What started out great
by Yunalesca10
Summary: When the appearance of a mysterious file warrents investigation, Seto Kaiba tries hard to prove his worries false while pretending nothing is wrong. Meanwhile, Yugi and the gang end up on a trip of their own, Joey is abused by his father, Mokuba is kidnapped, and everything is going wrong. Yu-Gi-Oh. Parings: Yugi x Téa, Joey x OC, and Tristan x Serenity, a little Tristan x Duke
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: ****_Ok, ok. I know. I'm a total nerd for doing this (Not that I care because nerds rule!) but yes. this is a Yu-Gi-Oh! story. if you don't like that, then what the heck are you doing in my story? Anyway, yes. There is going to be OC's. But again, if you don't like it, then seriously. Get off my story. Also, I'll be using the Dub names because I'm used to them. ALSO! I own NOTHING! Except the OC's in this. They're mine :3_**

* * *

Chapter 1

"Way to go Joey! Just look what you've gotten us into!" Tristan yelled as they were led to what looked like their deaths. Or if not some terrible fate that would ultimately cause their deaths.

"It's not _MY _fault! Blame Kaiba! He's the one who can't keep track of Mokuba for more than five minutes!" Joey yelled back. He looked at Kaiba. "Seriously, what kind of big brother let's his most dangerous enemy get even _close _to their brother!?"

"Drop it Wheeler." Kaiba said, calmly but angrily as they were brought into the room.

"What do we do, Yugi?" Tea asked, fear plaguing her voice as she glanced down at her friend.

"I don't think there's much we can do Tea..." Yugi sighed. Considering they were all tied up, surrounded by like, a bagillion goons, and faced with either death or a portal to the Shadow Realm, things weren't looking good for them.

"I'm scared Joey..." Abby whispered, moving closer to her boyfriend. What a great first trip with her loving boyfriend and his friends. Death, or the Shadow Realm. Which was virtually the same thing.

"It's alright. We'll make it through this. Everything will be ok. I promise." Joey reassured her. Though, he wasn't completely sure himself.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that."

They all looked up to see her. Their enemy. The cause of all of the problems they had ran into the passed few days.

"Erika!"

She laughed deviously. _Very _deviously.

"You didn't think I'd forget about my revenge did you Kaiba?"

"Erika! You know better than anyone else here that you'll never get away with this!" Kaiba yelled up at her. She was standing on a balcony above the portal to the Shadow Realm.

"Oh?" She said, smirking for a moment. "Because I think I will." And in a quick moment, she was holding up Mokuba by his shirt directly over the portal.

"MOKUBA!" Kaiba yelled, beginning to lose his cool.

"There _is_ a way to save him you know." She said with a smirk. Kaiba growled as he listened. "If you want to save him, then you will take his place."

They all gasped

"WHAT!?" Tea and Abby yelled. She had said he had to 'take his place'. That would mean she was going to either kill Mokuba, or banish him to the Shadow Realm. Why punish Mokuba? He never did anything to her.

Kaiba lowered his head and sighed. He did not want to submit to her threats, but if he didn't, then she would probably kill Mokuba or something else terrible... And he would never be able to forgive himself.

Yugi looked up at him.

"It's alright Kaiba. I won't let you do this alone."

"Yugi-"

"-Kaiba. Neither of you are going to die. If anyone's dying it's me."

"YUGI NO!" The gang yelled. He couldn't die. He wouldn't die. He just can't. Why would he even suggest something like that? And for _Kaiba _no less?

"It's alright." He said to them. He looked up at Erika "Erika! Don't do this!" She looked down at him. "I'll do it. I'll surrender my own life in their place."

But of course, she did not hesitate to turn things around again.

"Guards." They waited for her orders. "Kill them. Kill them all. Leave no traces of them remaining." she narrowed her eyes as she looked to them all. "I want nothing of them to be left."

She threw Mokuba down to them and laughed as she walked out of the room, positive her plan would untimately succeed.

"Mokuba!" Kaiba gasped, rushing over to the little ten year-old.

The guards surrounded them. They grabbed Abby and Tea. Obviously they were going to be cast into the Shadow Realm, while the boys were killed. They pointed their guns at the boys as they readied to throw the girls into the Shadows. The Shadow Realm was to most a fate worse than death..but..at least there was a chance the two of them could be saved...unlike the others if they were killed..

"And to think..." Tristan began. Joey finished for him. "This started out as such a great trip..."

*Four days earlier*

Seto sat in his office, working as usual. But it was different this time. Mokuba hadn't gotten out of school yet, so he was alone. He didn't mind that much, but he'd been alone all day and it was getting a little boring. "_I think I'll pick up Mokuba myself today." _He thought. He saved his work and got up from his desk. It had been a long time since he'd picked up Mokuba from school. Mokuba was sure to be surprised by this. He put on his trench coat and walked out of his office. He didn't like to wear it when he was working in the office.

"Sir, where are you going?" One of the KaibaCorp employees asked as he walked down the hallway.

His eyes narrowed as he answered his employee.

"I'm going to pick up my little brother from school. Is that a problem?" He asked, not really caring what the employee said. He was going to do it anyway.

"N-no Sir." The employee answered. Knowing he'd probably be fired on the spot if he said yes.

"Good." Seto said as he continued to walk down the hall to the elevator. He took the elevator down to the garage and walked out to his car. He opened the door and got in. It was a very nice car. Anyone in the universe would know it was him. So Mokuba would have no trouble finding him. He started up the car and proceeded to drive over to Mokuba's school. On the way he passed by Domino High School, where he noticed Yugi and the gang. Unfortunately for him, there was a slight traffic jam and he had to stop. And again unfortunately for him, he was right by the sidewalk and the gang had noticed him and was now walking over to him. _"Oh great..." _He thought as they approached his car.

"Hey Kaiba." Yugi said, stopping next to the car. They didn't expect to see Kaiba this time of the day. Especially not around here. "What are you doing here?"

"None of your business Mouto." Kaiba answered narrowing his eyes at him a little.

"Who do you think you are Richboy!?" Joey yelled upon hearing his total rudeness towards Yugi.

"I see your stupidity hasn't gotten you kicked out of school yet Wheeler." Kaiba said with a smirk.

"What did you just say to me!?" Joey was getting pretty mad by that point.

"Joey stop." Abby said, trying to calm him down.

"Really Kaiba. What are you doing here?" Tristan asked, completely ignoring Joey's rage.

"Don't you have lots of work to do?" Tea asked as well. Not that it was really any of their business if Kaiba was working or not. It had no effect on them.

"Well if you _must _know." Kaiba said, with a bit of an attitude. "I'm going to pick up Mokuba from school."

The gang looked surprised by that. They didn't claim to know much about Kaiba's lifestyle or anything like that, but they _did _know that he never picked up Mokuba himself. He always had their limo driver do it for him, since he always had so much work to do.

"That's really sweet of you Kaiba." Abby said with a smile. She was a sweet girl. It made him sick.

"Your disposition makes me sick." Kaiba said, looking away from her. That was the last straw.

"That's enough Kaiba! You can insult _me _all you want! But when you insult my girl, that's going too far!" Joey yelled, now entering another rage.

Kaiba looked at them again.

"So, I see she's crazy enough to actually _like_ you." He looked away with a smirk as the traffic cleared up. "Well if she's desperate enough to date you then I see you truly are a last resort." He mockingly laughed a little as he drove off, leaving them to their own affairs. He never liked Abby. She was too nice for his taste. She smiled too much and as far as he was concerned, anyone crazy enough to like Joey wasn't even worth acknowledgment. He turned the corner and pulled up to Mokuba's school. It was about 2:50 so he was about ten minutes early. He sat for a moment in silence until his phone rang. Without looking to see who it was, he instinctively answered it.

"Hello?"

_"I've had enough of your attitude Kaiba!"_

Joey...

_"Where do you get off insulting girls!?"_

"Wheeler, you know as well as I do, that I hate all of you. So I don't have any problem insulting you all. That includes the girls."

_"Look, I don't care who you think you are but being mean to a girl is just low! And making a girl cry is a completely different low!"_

"So she's even more pathetic than I thought she was." He smirked. "She's perfect for you."

And without another word, he hung up the phone. It had only been a few minutes, so there was still time left to wait. The phone rang a few more times, but he didn't answer. He knew it was Joey or one of Yugi's other idiot friends. So he didn't bother to even look at the phone. Besides, If Mokuba heard him yelling at them when he got there, then he'd be in trouble.

"Why he's friends with those losers, I will never know."

* * *

Sorry, this chapter's kinda super long and stuff. I just couldn't bring myself to end it. Oh well. Anyways, not bad for my first story in a long while if I do say so myself. But whatever. You all know the drill. I'll update whenever I have time, and I have a LOT of time, so I'll be sure to update frequently, and review if you feel the need. Maybe even favorite? I don't know. you do you. See ya next chapter! ;) I PROMISE!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"I can't believe Kaiba!" Joey yelled, throwing his phone back into his pocket, turning back to the others. Tea was trying to calm Abby down, she had started to cry after Kaiba left. She was a little sensitive so Kaiba's insults had seriously hurt her feelings. And that was _not _ok for Joey.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume that he didn't apologize." Tristan said, he wasn't surprised one bit. He knew how terribly mean Kaiba could be, and he wasn't exactly keen on the word 'sorry'. He honestly doubted Kaiba even knew the word existed.

"No." Joey said with an extremely annoyed tone. It made him beyond angry whenever Kaiba was even around. But when he insulted a girl. That was just unforgivable. Especially if he made the girl cry. And _ESPECIALLY _if that girl just so happened to be his Girlfriend.

"Don't worry about Kaiba. It doesn't matter what he says." Said Yami. He had taken over while Joey was yelling at Kaiba over the phone to offer Abby some encouraging words of his own.

"I know..." Abby sniffled, tears still slowly falling from her eyes. "I must seem like such a baby..."

"That's not true." Tea said, pulling her into a slightly tighter hug. "Kaiba's the only person in the world that absolutely _no one_ is a baby for crying because of something he said."

"I guess so..." Abby sighed. She knew Tea was right, but it didn't make her feel any better about it. And she wasn't only crying because she was upset about what Kaiba said about her. She was also crying because she was angry about what Kaiba said about Joey. He said that Joey was stupid and that she was crazy and desperate for liking him. But that wasn't true. Sure Joey wasn't the best at school work, but he wasn't stupid. At leased not to her. His grades were just fine and he didn't ask for help often. And he was one of the sweetest guys she'd ever met. But she figured that was why Kaiba didn't like him much.

* * *

Seto was getting bored of waiting in the car. He glanced down at the clock above the radio, which he never used.

2:59

_"Good. I'm sick of this already."_ Seto thought. He was trying to be patient, he knew his boredom was his own fault for being early. He sighed on account of admitting to himself that something was actually his fault. As he sighed, the bell rang, ending the school day. Seto turned to the building, waiting for Mokuba to come out. A few short minutes passed and he saw his brother exit the building. It took meer seconds for Mokuba to spot the car. And Seto could see that he looked quite happy as well as confused upon seeing that it was Seto picking him up from school today.

"Hey Seto." Mokuba said as he got into the passengers side of the car.

"Hey." Seto said, watching as Mokuba buckled his seatbelt. He started up the car and began to drive them home. "How was school today?"

"It was fine." Mokuba answered. "You know, as fine as one _can _be after being bullied..." Though Seto could haddly hear the last part, he could tell he was oddly carefree about it considering Seto could hear the word bully in that sentence.

"What?" Seto asked, tempted to stop the car right there in the middle of the street. "What do you mean?"

"It's not that big a deal Seto." Mokuba said, not even glancing at his brother. He just continued looking forward. Though Seto disagreed.

"Oh, I beg to differ." Seto half-scoffed. Ever since they were kids he hated bullies. Especially ones who found it fun to mess with his little brother. And that hadn't changed. "Who was it? What did they say?"

"Seto, I said it's no big deal-" Mokuba was cut off by the car jerking. Seto had stopped the car.

"Look Mokuba, it may not be a problem to you, but you know for a _fact _that it's a problem for me." He said, looking back over at Mokuba, who still was not looking at him, which made him worry a little. He hadn't even seen Mokuba's face on the one side at all. "Now, who was being mean to you?"

Mokuba stayed silent.

Seto couldn't take it anymore. He leaned over and turned Mokuba's face towards him. Sure enough, there was indeed a reason he hadn't looked at him the whole time. his face was kinda cut up and there was a little bit of dried blood on his forehead.

"Mokuba!" He gasped, drawing back a bit from the shock. "Who did this to you!?"

Mokuba sighed as he told Seto what had happened that day at school. He told him how he was being constantly insulted by a few of the older kids, that didn't bother him much because he knew they didn't know what they were talking about. But one of them said something mean about Seto and he got angry and punched the kid.

"That doesn't explain what happened to your face." Seto said, interrupting Mokuba's story. Only interested in that part at that specific moment.

Mokuba gave him a 'don't interrupt' look and continued.

"I punched the guy and one of his friends grabbed me and smashed my face into the side of the building."

Seto's eyes widened slightly. Of course, the one day he picked up Mokuba himself, was the one day he got beat up. That was extremely angering.

* * *

"Joey, what are you so mad about?" Duke asked as he, Joey and Bakura walked down the hall. True it was passed 3 PM, but they were in High School. They still had a little bit of their school day left.

"Yeah, you seem rather angry today Joey." Bakura said, making the obvious observation.

"I'm mad because of Kaiba!" He answered his friends. "Just because he's completely heartless doesn't give him the right to insult my _gir__lfriend_ because she's a sweet girl! Gez! I don't go around insulting Mokuba for being a nice kid do I!?"

"Joey, I think you should calm down." Bakura advised, noticing that people in the hallway had begun to stare at them.

"Yeah." Duke agreed "And besides, Kaiba doesn't like _any _of us. But I get it, if he insulted my girlfriend I'd probably be the same way."

"You don't have a girlfriend." Joey added with an extremely flat tone.

"Don't remind me." Duke sighed. "Somehow you got a girlfriend before me..."

"That's enough out of both of you. Duke, you could have a girlfriend if you wanted one, but you always just settle for breaking hearts, and Joey, dwelling on what Kaiba did won't make it better. I understand you're angry but that's not going to help." Bakura said. And in his defense, they did all think that Joey was acting pretty ridiculous about that whole thing. Sure Kaiba had made Abby cry, but what he said honestly really wasn't all that mean. She was just a sensitive girl.

"I guess you're right Bakura." Joey sighed. They could always count on Bakura to keep them together. Maybe it was his word choice paired with his British accent. They didn't really know, but it didn't really matter.

"Yeah, you do have a point." Duke said as they reached their lockers. Their last class was always really early getting out, so they had lots of time at the end of the day to just hang out until the last bell.

"Hey Bakura, could you talk to Abby?" Joey asked as he put his books into his backpack.

"Umm, sure. But, shouldn't you do that?" Bakura asked, confused on Joey's thinking on this.

"Yeah but you know how she is sometimes. I'm still mad at Kaiba and If she's still upset about it than I want someone with a cooler head to talk with her. Besides, you're the one who introduced us remember?" Joey said, putting a hand on Bakura's shoulder. It was true. Abby was a friend of his before she met Joey and the others. He was the one who introduced her to them, He kinda understood now.

"Yes, I remember." Bakura said. He really did remember. It was three months ago on a Tuesday, Abby had just moved to Domino a few days before and Bakura was her first friend. Once he learned that he was her only friend, he introduced her to Yugi and the gang. She and Joey seemed to have an instant connection, they started talking and hanging out a lot. Then seemingly out of the blue, they started going out a few weeks after Bakura introduced them to eachother. "Alright, I'll talk to her."

"Thanks Bakura. I just want to make sure she's ok you know. Like, one hundred percent sure." Joey said, closing his locker.

"Please Joey, you're just paranoid. I'm sure she's perfectly fine." Duke said, closing his locker as the bell rang.

"Yeah, but Kaiba insulted me too. And you know how upset that alone makes her." Joey said in response to Duke. "Anyway, I told Serenity I'd call her today, so I gotta go. I'll see you guys later." He proceeded to walk down the hall and out of the building. Bakura was right, he was making too big a deal out of this. But he couldn't help it, it was just the way he was. Short tempered, and very protective of the girls in his life. But still, he knew that was no excuse for his behavior. He knew that, and Tea always gave him a hard time about it. He knew she was only looking out for him as a friend, and he appreciated that. It was good to know there was people he could count on, people who were always looking out for him. And he promised himself that he would always do the same thing for them.

* * *

_**DAW! Joey you sweetie :P Anyway, so how does everybody like the story so far? I like it, but you know of course I do, it's my story. Anyway, review, follow, favorite, whatever you want to do. Whatever floats your boat. Next chapter soon! ;)**_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Bakura walked down the hallway, looking for Abby. Her locker wasn't too far from his, Joey's, and Duke's. But she was always quicker getting out than him. He hoped she hadn't already left, though he doubted it. She was probably waiting for Joey, though he had already left school. But of course, she didn't know that. As far as she knew, Joey was still at school.

_"There she is."_ He thought. She was indeed waiting for Joey by her locker. He could tell because she was standing clear in the middle of the hallway looking around for him. _"Well, here I go."_

"Hello Abby." He said, waving slightly as he walked over to her. It had been a while since last they talked, so he felt a bit awkward.

"Hey Bakura." She said, smiling at him, waving a bit herself. "Do you know where Joey is? I haven't seen him since he went back to class after Kaiba left." her confusion made her so cute to him. He could never admit it, but he had a tiny crush on her himself. But she liked Joey, and he was ok with that. Still, Bakura couldn't help being a little jealous.

"Actually, Joey left already." He answered her "he had to go call Serenity."

"Ahh, I see." She said, a slightly depressed expression creeped across her face. "I just wanted to check on him, he was pretty mad earlier."

_"She's so considerate. Joey's lucky.." _Bakura thought. Normally he would've kicked himself for thinking like that, but he just couldn't help it today. There was just something about her that made his heart melt, but at the same time he hated himself for being jealous. It wasn't his place to pry in her and Joey's love lives. Still, he'd have to overcome the urge to pry if he wanted to stay friends with Joey, which he did.

"Actually, that's why I'm here." He admitted. She gave him a look of confusion, cocking her head to the side a bit for effect. "He asked me to talk to you about what happened with Kaiba. He said that since he was still angry he wanted someone with a 'cooler head' to talk to you, just to make sure you were ok."

She smiled at that. She had no idea Joey cared _that _much about her feelings. Though she supposed that if he didn't, then they wouldn't be dating.

"That's really sweet of him." She said, still smiling. "And you know Bakura, I always did enjoy our conversations. Why did we stop talking?"

"I don't know..." He sighed "I guess once you started hanging out with Yugi and the others we just didn't have the time to talk like friends do." He felt bad for saying that. It wasn't the gangs fault that she stopped talking to him, she was just trying to get to know them better, and she had already gotten to know Bakura quite well before he introduced her to them. She was only trying to make friends, and besides, he was guilty of not talking to her as well as her not talking to him. He knew he didn't have to wait for her to engage him in conversation, he could just go talk to her. But he was honestly a little shy, and engaging a conversation with a girl he had a slight crush on wasn't exactly easy most of the time.

"I guess so..." She said, turning away from him slightly. "Hey Bakura?"

"Yes?"

"I have to go home now, but I promise I'll call you later ok? I promise I'll be a better friend to you." She said, smiling as she swung her backpack over her shoulder. He smiled back at her as she turned and began to walk away, he turned and began to walk away as well.

"Goodbye Abby."

"Bakura?"

He turned back around to see her just standing there, not looking at him, but she had called his name.

"Tell Joey I'm ok if you see him, ok?"

"Of course."

He couldn't see her, but he could tell she was smiling.

"Thanks Bakura." She said, now walking away for real this time.

_"I promise I'll be a better friend to you."__  
_Those words rang in his mind. She had no reason to say that to him, she was a great friend. She always was and she always will be. Bakura sighed quietly to himself as he began walking home. She said she'd call him. So he knew he'd have a friend tonight.

* * *

Seto pulled the car into the driveway. Neither of the two brothers had said a word since Mokuba finished telling Seto what had happened that day at school. Mokuba got out of the car and walked inside their gigantic house, but Seto just sat there in the car. What was he supposed to do? Just go inside and continue on like he'd never heard what Mokuba had said? What kind of big brother would he be then? He sighed, finally getting out of the car and walking into the house. Ignoring all of his staff who attempted to ask him about Mokuba, he walked to the upstairs bathroom to find Mokuba cleaning up his face.

"Are you ok?" He asked, putting a hand on his little brother's shoulder.

"I'm fine Seto. Really." Mokuba answered, putting some Band-Aids over the cuts on his face. Though Seto noticed that he still hadn't washed off the blood from his forehead.

"Here, let me help." He said, taking one of the wash cloths and running it under the water in the sink for a moment. He kneeled down next to Mokuba and turned his face so he could see the blood. He put the cloth to Mokuba's forehead and washed off the blood. Seto grabbed a Band-Aid and placed it over the cut on Mokuba's forehead.

"Thanks Seto." Mokuba said, getting up from the chair he was sitting on. He began to walk out of the bathroom but Seto stopped him.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Seto asked, a look of concern coming over his face. Mokuba shot him a quick look of his own.

"Yes, I'm ok. Just let it go ok Seto?"

Seto sighed. Mokuba was right, he was just being overprotective. But he couldn't help it, he was like that ever since they were kids. He knew Mokuba got a little annoyed by it sometimes, but he couldn't help it. He would do anything to keep his little brother from getting hurt, and being overprotective, sometimes to the extreme, was a part of that. He nodded, offering a smile that he only showed Mokuba.

"Good." Mokuba said, offering a smile of his own. "I'm gonna go do my homework ok? I'll see you later Seto." He walked out before Seto could answer him, leaving him in the bathroom.

_"At least he does his homework without being told."_ He thought, proud of the fact that Mokuba had grown out of the habit of not doing his homework until he had to practically force him too. He quietly sighed to himself and walked upstairs to his office, he still had a bit of work to finish up tonight. He sat down at his desk and turned on the computer, he looked over the files on the computer to make sure everything was in order, which it was. Of course, everything was perfect. As they usually were in the Kaiba household. Seto never wanted things to be anything shy of perfect, he figured he was just paranoid. _"I really left this much unfinished?" _Seto thought, looking upon the slightly massive amount of unfinished reports and files. He sighed and began working on his unfinished work. A few seemingly long hours passed with absolutely no interruptions which was nice. But partly from boredom and partly from exhaustion, Seto had begun to doze off a bit. Just then, the phone began to ring.

"Hello? Yes this is Seto Kaiba." Unbeknownst to him, Mokuba had walked into the office and was slightly eavesdropping on the conversation. "You can't expect me to just drop everything and- Look, I'm a very busy man. And I don't have time to waste on leaving the city for one meeting right now. Now if you'll excuse me I have a lot of work to do." And without another word Seto hung up the phone, quietly sighing to himself. He put the phone down and turned back to his computer. He continued working for a quick moment before realizing he was being watched. He turned to see Mokuba standing next to him, which startled him a bit. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to hear your phone conversation." Mokuba said, trying not to put too much attitude in his tone. "What was that about?"

"Just some idiot expecting me to go to Miami for a meeting that would probably only take ten minutes. I don't have time to waste on that." Seto said, returning to his work.

"I suppose so." Mokuba said, taking a look at what Seto was doing. "What's that?"

"What's what?" Seto asked, looking back at Mokuba.

"_That_." He said, pointing to a file that neither of them had ever seen before. "What is _that_?"

Seto took a look at what Mokuba was pointing at. He was right, Seto had no clue what that file was or how it could've gotten onto his computer. The only way it could've gotten there was if he had putt it there himself, and he knew he hadn't.

"I guess we'd better take a look." Seto said, clicking on the strange unidentified file, opening it up. They looked at it for a quick second before Seto freaked out.

"What is this!?"

* * *

**_OOOOHHHH! Bakura, you sly dog you! Do I sense a small love triangle going on here? And what about that mystery file? What is it? And who could it be from? Tune in next time to find out!_**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Yugi sat in his bedroom, just staring at the puzzle. And considering that they weren't in the middle of some insane adventure to save the world, that was weird.

_"Yugi? Is something wrong?" _Yami asked, appearing next to his young friend, leisurely leaning against the wall.

"Why do you ask?" Yugi asked, looking up at Yami, with a slightly confused look on his adorable face.

_"You've been staring at the Millennium Puzzle since we got home. Is something wrong?"_

Yugi sighed quietly as he put the puzzle down on the bed next to him.

"I don't know. I just have this strange feeling that something bad is going to happen soon...and no matter what I do, I just can't seem to shake it..."

Yami took a moment to think on that. What would Yugi have to worry about? They weren't currently trying to save the world. And there haven't been any signs of a new threat recently. So what was Yugi so worried about?

_"You're worried that Tea will say no if you ask her out?"_

"Pharaoh! This is serious!" Yugi yelled, blushing a little from embarrassment.

_"I'm being serious Yugi." _Yami answered, though he really _wasn't _being all that serious.

"Could've fooled me." Yugi muttered under his breath, not happy with Yami for suggesting that.

_"I know she'd say yes Yugi. You know, she does really like you."_ Yami said, continuing to add to Yugi's embarrassment.

"Would you STOP that!?" Yugi yelled again, again beginning to blush. He really liked Tea too, but he really was afraid to ask her out on a date. But there was no way he would ever actually _admit _to it! But that was the least of his problems right now. He was sure of that, though...he didn't exactly know what his real problem actually _was_.

_"Sorry Yugi. I'll knock it off." _Yami said. Though Yugi doubted that the teasing would actually stop any time soon. Yami was like that sometimes. Which for the gang, was honestly hard to believe. He was always so serious around them, hardly ever joining into their comical antics and arguingly witty banter. But when it came down to just the two of them, he was sometimes a lot less serious and held together than usual. He would tease Yugi about his crush on Tea and sometimes engage in his own arguably witty banter. It was honestly kind of odd.

"Good." Yugi said, turning away from him, continuing to again stare at the puzzle in an attempt to shake his bad feeling.

_"Are you sure you're not just worried about Tea saying no?"_

"PHARAROH!" Yugi yelled, turning back to Yami with an extremely irritated facial expression. He looked as if he were going to punch Yami in the neck.

"What's going on in here?"

Yugi turned around to see his Grandpa come through the door.

"Sorry Grandpa.." Yugi said, calming down a bit. Though he was still mad at Yami.

"Were you yelling at the Pharaoh again?" He asked, giving Yugi a stern look.

"Yes...B-but he was making fun of me and-"

"Oh will you be quiet and listen to your Grandpa for a minute!?"

Yugi stopped freaking out and sat down calmly on the bed, waiting for his Grandpa to tell him what he wanted to say, though it was hard to pay attention with Yami laughing behind him.

"You remember Arthur Hawkins do you Yugi?" Grandpa asked, looking around as if he could hear Yami's laughter, which they all knew he couldn't.

"Professor Hawkins? Yeah I remember him. He's Rebecca's Grandpa right?" Yugi asked, just making sure he wasn't crazy for thinking that.

"Yes that's true. Anyway, some ruins were discovered down in the Gulf of Mexico, and some of the artifacts that were found are going to be shown at the Museum in Miami, and Arthur invited me to go see the unveiling of the exhibit." Grandpa said, smiling at the thought of seeing an old friend.

"Wow! That's awesome Grandpa!" Yugi said, smiling a bit himself.

"That's right Yugi, and not only that, but he said you and your friends could come along too. It'll be like a vacation!" Grandpa said, happy that Yugi looked so excited about what he had told him.

"Awesome! I'll go tell them!" Yugi said, happily running downstairs so he could call his friends. He'd never been so excited to go anywhere in his whole life. He'd never been to Miami before, and being able to take his friends along would make it even more fun. Hopefully by then, Yami would stop teasing him about Tea...

* * *

Seto and Mokuba stared at the computer screen, when Seto opened up the file, nothing but pictured and what looked like reports popped up on the screen, looking to be from a past business trip. But what startled Seto the most was the message that appeared after a few seconds of staring at the pictures and reports.

_"Do you remember me?" _

"What does that mean Seto?" Mokuba asked, looking to his big brother for an answer. Though, he figured if Seto knew he would've said something about it by now.

Seto continued to stare at the message on the screen, the pictures did spark a few memories, but nothing to really tell him who this was and what they wanted. After a few more moments of silence and staring at the screen, what looked like an Icon for a company appeared across the screen, followed by another cryptic message.

_"I know what you did...and I know where you live."_

He remembered now.

"Mokuba, I've changed my mind." Seto said, getting up from his desk, shutting off the computer. "We're leaving."

"What?" Mokuba asked, completely confused by what was going on, and quite alarmed by his brother's sudden worry. Nothing scared Seto. Whatever those messages were, they must mean something really bad.

"I've decided I will go to that meeting in Miami." Seto said, walking over to the office door.

"But...you said _we_...?"

"I know." He turned to Mokuba, motioning for him to follow. "You're coming too."

Mokuba was a bit shocked by that. Seto never took him on his business trips. Though he assumed it was because of that second message; _"I know what you did...and I know where you live."_

_"Yeah...I wouldn't leave me alone either." _Mokuba thought, walking over and following Seto out of the office and down to the living room.

Seto sat down on the couch and sighed, trying to sort all of this out in his head. Trying to somehow rationalize it...somehow. _"How is this possible?" _He thought, burying his face in his hands. _"Who is this? What do they want? I remember that Icon...but it can't be...It's not possible. She died 2 years ago...It can't be. Unless-"_

"Seto?"

He looked up from his thoughts to see Mokuba giving him a rather worried look.

"Are you ok?" Mokuba asked, beginning to look even more worried.

"I'm fine Mokuba." Seto answered, pulling himself together upon realizing Mokuba was worried because he was showing fear and worry himself.

"Is it because of that file?" Mokuba asked "Is that why you changed your mind? To get away from whoever that was?" He figured that was why, but he wanted to be sure on that before completely jumping to conclusions.

Seto sighed. He didn't want to admit to Mokuba that he was afraid. But seeing as Mokuba was there, and he had seen the file too, there was no use trying to hide it from him. Besides, Mokuba would know if he were lying about it. He knew that.

"Yes."

"Do you really think whoever sent those messages won't find us if we leave Seto?" Mokuba asked. Cocking his head to the side a bit in a fashion that was so adorable, that even Seto smiled a little.

"I don't know Mokuba." Seto said, taking out his phone so he could make sure his staff and employee's knew where they were going, and also to inform the president of the other company that he would be attending the meeting after all. "But I'm not taking any chances. Whoever that was, apparently knows where we live. At leased they say that they do. And that's not something I'm going to chance." Mokuba nodded a bit in agreement, still keeping up that adorable appearance that made even Seto's heart melt. Even though Mokuba was _always _adorable like that.

"I guess so." Mokuba added along with his small nod. Seto could tell that he was scared and confused about what was going on, it depressed him to know that, but he couldn't help that. Mokuba was only a child. He couldn't possibly understand the seriousness of the situation.

"I promise, everything will be ok." Seto said, putting an hand on his little brother's shoulder, his eyes softening as he looked at Mokuba and his adorable face. It was a hollow promise. Words without action. He couldn't truly promise something he didn't know. But that wasn't going to stop him from saying it anyway. Anything to put Mokuba at ease, anything to keep him blissfully unaware of the true danger that would come. He figured that if Mokuba was oblivious to it...then maybe his own mind, could be at ease as well...

* * *

**_Oh Yami you little so and so! It's not nice to tease Yugi! Anyway, sorry this one didn't go up yesterday like I planned it would, I was busy yesterday. Oh well. You know what they say; If you post a day late...It's ok because there's no deadline. ANYWAY! What about those messages? Who could they be from? What could they mean? Did Seto do something really bad? And isn't it convenient that they're ALL going to Miami and at the SAME TIME? Weeeeeeiiiiiirrrdddd..._**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi_ guys. Sorry this one took a bit longer, but I've been busy which makes me sad. Anyway, I'm glad to see that you guys seem to like this story so far, and I'm very greatful for that. Anyway, enough sappy thank you stuff. Seto is getting really annoyed with me. So! On with the chapter!_**

* * *

Chapter 5

Seto sat in his bedroom, looking as if he were contemplating life itself. His expression was as confused as it was serious. He couldn't believe what he had seen earlier that night. What could it possibly mean? He remembered that logo, but only vaguely. He hadn't seen it since he was a kid, and that was years ago. But considering he was only 18, that wasn't too terribly long ago. But it was long enough that his memories surrounding that logo had all since faded.

_"Who sent those messages?" _He thought, leaning up against the headboard of his bed. _"It couldn't have been her...she's been dead for 2 years now...but...there's no one else It could've been. But that makes no sense! How could a dead woman hack into my computer and put a file filled with cryptic messages onto it? It's just not possible!" _At this point, all logic was pretty much being thrown out the window. Seto didn't believe in ghosts, but he had all but considered that was what was going on here, her ghost had come back to haunt him. Though he quickly brushed off the idea.

_"That's ridiculous." _He thought, not coming any closer to a solution he would stick with. In fact, he was even farther from one than he was when he _started_ dwelling on it. He sighed. He knew it was starting to get late, he'd been thinking about this for hours now. It was only just passed 6 o'clock when he and Mokuba stumbled upon the file. After dinner and preparations for the flight out to Miami, Seto had sent Mokuba to bed a bit earlier than usual. They would be leaving early the next morning so he wanted to make sure that Mokuba got enough sleep. He was still a child after all. But that was about 2 hours ago. It was nearly 11 o'clock now, and Seto was still dwelling on that file. But he just didn't understand how all of this was possible. But before he could begin to think about it again, he was interrupted by a yawn that had somehow snuck through.

"I should probably just go to bed." He whispered, noticing a tired-sounding tone in his voice. He sighed and gave in to the tiredness. Not even bothering to change into PJ's, he just crawled under the covers and turned out the light, hoping that he wouldn't have some kind of erotic dream sequence about what had happened with the file and those messages, but he just hoped he was hoping hard enough.

* * *

"Ok Bakura. I'll see you tomorrow then? I assume you're going." Abby said, she had indeed kept her promise. For she was currently on the phone with Bakura.

_"Of course I'm going. I wouldn't miss this for the world! I haven't been anywhere with Yugi and the others since Duelist Kingdom."_

"Well I'm glad you're coming." She said with a smile, taking a quick glance over at the clock.

**10:58 P.M.**

"Well...it's getting pretty late, we should probably go to bed. We are leaving tomorrow after all, and you know how planes are. We'll need all the sleep we can get." She could hear Bakura chuckle a bit at that, though she couldn't tell if he thought that was funny or if he was just happy.

_"Well alright." _Bakura said with a small sigh. _"I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight Abby."_

"Goodnight Bakura." She said, smiling as she took the phone away from her ear. She glanced over at the call timer, they had been talking for about an hour and a half. She smiled at that. It had felt like only ten minutes to her. she hung up her phone and set in on the charger, laying back on her bed with a sigh. There were a few moments of silence, before her phone rang again.

**_*ring, ring*_**

Abby lifted her head up a bit, hoping that it wasn't really her phone, but to her dismay, it was her phone. She sighed in annoyance, letting herself fall back onto the bed for a second before answering her phone.

"Hello?"

_"Hey Abby."_

"Oh, Hi Joey." She said, perking up a bit upon realizing who had called. Though she could've just looked at the screen before she answered because of caller ID. But with it being 11 o'clock at night, and her being tired now. That didn't occur to her at all.

_"Abby! I just got the coolest news!"_

"Let me guess." She began. "Yugi and his Grandpa are taking us all down to Miami for the unveiling of the new exhibit at the Museum."

_"Yugi and his Grandpa are taking us to Miami for-" _There was a brief moment of silence. _"Wait...You already know?"_

"Yeah." Abby answered, trying not to laugh at Joey, though she was slightly failing. She just couldn't help it. Besides, she knew he wouldn't be mad at her.

_"But how?"_

She could just see him now, going out of his way to figure it out. He always did that. He either over thinks everything, or under thinks it. Most of the time he under thinks it. It amused her to imagine his overly-confused facial expression. That expression always made her smile.

"Bakura told me." She said, "accidentally" forgetting to mention that they were on the phone for an hour and a half but a few minutes ago.

_"Bakura? How did he know?"_

"Tristan."

_"Oh, I guess that makes sense. Anyway, How are you?"_

* * *

Joey wondered about her all day. He stopped worrying about the Kaiba situation, but he still thought about her. Especially after Serenity asked all sorts of questions about her. See, he hadn't exactly _told _her he had a girlfriend.

_"I'm good. A little tired considering it's 11 o'clock. But other than that, I'm fine."_

"That's good. So how-"

_"If you're gonna ask me about Kaiba again, I'm fine."_

He felt hurt by that. She sounded annoyed when she said that. He knew she was like that when she was tired, but it still hurt his feelings a bit. Especially considering the fact that he _wasn't _going to ask about that.

"Actually, I was gonna ask how you felt about the trip. I mean, you _are_ going aren't you?" He asked. He hoped she was going, she'd never been anywhere with them, and he figured this would be a good time for her to have her first trip with the gang, and also it would be a good opportunity for her to get to know them better. Sure she'd known them for about three months, but they hadn't exactly told her much. For one, they hadn't even told her about the Pharaoh or the Spirit of the Millennium Ring. Or well, the Millennium Items in general. Sure she'd seen the Pharaoh before, but they never told her who he really was. She was as clueless about him as they'd all been back in Duelist Kingdom. Though, he hoped they'd _never _have to tell her about the Spirit of the Ring...

_"Well of course I'm going. I've even packed already."_

"Wow. You really are excited about this." He said in astonishment. At that very moment he was sitting on the floor of his bedroom among a pile of clothes and things, currently attempting to pack. Though, he supposed it made sense she was done already, she'd known before he had. But it still amazed him. Not even Tea could pack that fast.

_"Of course I am!" _She said excitedly _"I've never been to Florida before. And what better way to go than with you guys?"_

He was happy that she was happy, when he and the others met her, she was shy and quiet. Now she was vibrant and cheerful. It was a welcome change. For her as well as the gang.

"You've got a point there. This'll be your first trip with Yugi. And I tell ya, you won't be disappointed. Trust me on that, there won't be a dull moment." Of course, she didn't know that he was referring to their streak of ending up having to save the world or something whenever they went anywhere.

_"Well I'd sure hope not."_

"Yeah, I'd expect that." Joey said, hiding a small sigh. She didn't really know anything about them or what they did. They weren't _trying _to hide everything from her, but Yugi thought that it wouldn't be a good idea to tell her about the Pharaoh or the Millennium Items and all that for a while. Though Joey knew, she'd find out on this trip. Something would happen, and they'd have to tell her eventually. He had half a mind to just tell her right now. But before he mad eup his mind, he glanced over at the clock.

**11:27 P.M.**

It was nearly 11:30, and they'd be leaving tomorrow.

"Hey, I think we should go to sleep now. It's getting really late. And we're leaving tomorrow."

_"Yeah, I suppose we should." _She answered, letting a small yawn slip out. _"Well then I'll see you all tomorrow then?"_

"Of course. I mean, Yugi told me that even Duke's going so we'll have the whole gang down there."

_"That's great! Anyway, goodnight Joey. Love you."_

"Love you too Ab. Goodnight."

And with that, he hung up the phone and collapsed onto the floor.

"Yeah, _you_ can go to bed." He sighed, staring at the ceiling. "I still have to pack..." He knew his complaining was childish, but that's exactly what he was. Childish. But then again, so was everyone, in their own ways. But he really didn't want to pack. But since they were leaving tomorrow, he didn't really have much choice on the matter. He reluctantly sat back up and began going through his clothes. Thanks to Serenity, he had to always make sure he had everything he needed. Though even though he wanted to have fun on this trip, he couldn't keep himself from worrying that something bad was going to happen...

* * *

**_DAWWW! Aren't they just the cutest? Anyways, like I said before, sorry this one took a little longer, and by extension the chapter's a bit longer than the others. So PLEASE Tell me that did the job to appease you all! Anyway. Who could that girl Seto was thinking about be? Could she have something to do with that strange file and those messages? And what about the gang? Could their vacation turn into another mission to save the world? Will Abby ever find out about the Pharaoh and all of that stuff? Will I ever shut up and get working on the next chapter!? Find out next time!_**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The next morning, Yugi awoke to a strange sound.

_"What is that...?" _He thought, Tiredly looking around his bedroom. Nobody was there, not even Yami, who he assumed was still asleep inside the Millennium Puzzle. Which he was jealous of because it was about 4:30 in the morning, and he would prefer to be asleep rather than being woken up by who knows what.

_"I suppose I should go see what's up..."_

Yugi got out of bed and slowly walked to his door. His speed impaired by his tiredness. He opened the door, careful not to make too much noise. Just because Yami was in the Puzzle didn't mean he couldn't hear what was going on outside of it.

_"Yugi...?"_

_"Damn..."_

He turned around to see Yami rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Though he was about to kick himself for swearing, Yami could hear that.

_"Didn't your Grandfather teach you better than to think like that?" _Yami lectured. Though considering he did it too, he really wasn't one to talk.

"Like you're one to talk." Yugi said, shooting Yami a small glare.

_"So why are you up so early?" _Yami asked, ignoring Yugi's glare and giving him his own confused expression. Obviously he hadn't heard what Yugi had, though, Yugi wasn't exactly sure what he'd heard himself.

"I was woken up by a strange noise." Yugi explained, trying not to make the story sound too stupid considering it was true. "I was just going to see what it was."

_"What do you think it was?" _Yami asked, not really concerned. He doubted it was anything to worry about.

"I don't know." Yugi said, Yami could detect a little bit of sass in his tone. "That's why I was going to look."

_"Well then, far be it from me to stand in the way of your sass!" _Yami said, with quite the sassy tone himself.

"What?" Yugi asked, confused by what Yami had said.

_"Your sass Yugi." _Yami said again. _"You're being sassy with me. Aren't you the one who's been saying we have to be serious lately?"_

"Come on Pharaoh, it's 4:30 in the morning, give me a break!" Yugi said, complaining a bit that Yami was giving him such a hard time. Though, considering the conversation they had about Tea yesterday, he wasn't all that mad. This conversation was nothing in comparison, also there was the fact that it was 4:30 in the morning and they were both really tired.

_"Alright, alright. Go check out that noise. I'll be here if you need me." _Yami said, though he doubted Yugi would need him. He assumed that the alleged 'noise' wasn't anything to worry about, so he planned on going back to bed after Yugi left the room.

"Ok." Yugi said, opening the door again. "I'll be back." He walked out of his bedroom, quietly closing the door behind him. "Oh he'll be asleep when I get back." He whispered to himself, grinning a little. The two of them were so close, yet they could be so dysfunctional sometimes. But he knew that Yami had waited to go back to sleep until he left, to avoid annoying him. "How nice." A small yawn escaped as he walked quietly down the stairs, nearly tripping over the air, on account of being really tired. He walked down into the living room, nothing was out of place or looked as if it had been touched.

_ "I'll go check the kitchen, the noise sounded like it came from there anyway." _He thought, walking towards the kitchen. And just as he suspected.

"Grandpa? What are you doing?"

"Oh, Yugi." Grandpa said looking up at Yugi. "What are you doing up this early?"

"I was woken up by a loud noise." Yugi explained. "And I could ask you the same thing."

"I was getting ready to start making breakfast." Grandpa explained, further confusing Yugi.

"At 4:30 in the morning!?" Yugi was completely confused. He couldn't think of anything that would make this make sense.

"Of course. We're all leaving today, and in a few hours no less." Grandpa explained, causing Yugi's eyes to widen. He had completely forgotten about the Miami trip, though he couldn't figure out how he'd forgotten, considering that he'd just been told about it yesterday.

"Really!? That soon!?" Yugi asked, continuing to look like an idiot.

"Yes that soon. I'd prefer leaving later in the day myself but so long as we get there ok it doesn't really matter when we leave." Grandpa said with a smile as Yugi got himself a drink of water.

"Yeah, you're right Grandpa." Yugi said, taking a sip of his water. "Hey, Grandpa?"

"What is it Yugi?"

"I just can't shake this feeling that something bad is going to happen while we're down there...The Pharaoh thinks I'm just being paranoid, but it seems like whenever the gang and I go anywhere together something bad happens. Somebody always gets hurt, and someone always wants to take over or destroy the world..." Yugi said. He knew Yami was a little right. He was a little paranoid, but that didn't change his feeling. If it was only his paranoia he would've been able to shake the feeling by now. But he couldn't.

"I see..." Grandpa said with a sigh. "I understand Yugi. But trust me when I tell you that everything will be fine. I promise."

Yugi sighed. He wanted to trust him, but something inside him said that no matter what they did to avoid trouble, it would only attract it eventually. It seemed that they were magnets for trouble...

"Ok Grandpa." He said, smiling a bit, trying to be more optimistic. "Should I go call the gang and let them know we'll be leaving soon?"

"You could." Grandpa answered, continuing to make breakfast. "Though I doubt they'd answer. Especially this early."

"I guess." Yugi said, walking back upstairs. He was gonna do it anyway. He walked back into his room to find that Yami had fallen asleep again. Though he couldn't blame him. He would have preferred to be asleep right now too. But he had figured it was better to be awake right now. Who else was gonna wake up the gang at nearly 5 in the morning and tell them to get their butts out of bed this early?

_"No one. That's who." _Yugi thought grabbing his phone from the desk. _"Sorry guys. You know I wouldn't do this to you this early if I didn't have to."_ He felt like he was making to big a deal about this, but he knew at leased Duke would be mad at him for waking him this early in the morning. He turned his phone on and looked over his friends names in his contact list. _"I'll wake up Duke last. I know how he is in the morning..." _He thought. Duke wasn't a morning person. That's all that needed to be said. He sighed and selected Joey. Who better to start with than his best friend? He put the phone to his ear and waited for either Joey's answer, or the voicemail message. Just then, there was an answer.

_"Hello?"_

Yugi took a moment to study the voice. Not Joey.

"Who are you? You're not Joey!"

* * *

_**OOOOOHHH! Who answered Joey's phone!? Who could it be? And oh Yami...you're so stupid sometimes. Anyways, Sorry this one took so long...:'( I don't really have an excuse for this...sorry...and yeah, this one's a bit shorter than the others...But I'll try to post Chapter 7 soon. I'll ground myself if I don't. Ok, see you guys next chapter!**_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

_"Um, no I'm not." _The unidentified voice said, it didn't sound like a friendly voice...

"Then, who are you?" Yugi asked, knowing he was soon going to get his answer.

_"Why don't you tell me who you are first."_

The voice was definitely male. He sounded mean, and above that, tired. A mean, tired man. Good job Yugi. Good job.

"I-I'm Yugi Mouto." Yugi answered, a bit intimidated by whoever he was talking to.

_"Hmm..."_ The man began, he seemed to be speculating on Yugi's name. _"Oh. You." _

"E-excuse me?" Yugi asked, confused by the man's reaction. Who was he?

_"You. You're that Yugi kid Joseph is always out with." _

That sold it.

"You're Joey's Father?"

_"Uh, duh." _He answered, keeping with the unfriendly atmosphere. _"What do you want?"_

"I-I just wanted to make sure Joey was ready for our trip." He answered awkwardly. "W-we'll be leaving in a few hours so-"

_"So you called at 5 in the morning!?" _

He'd made a terrible mistake...

"Y-yes...?" Yugi answered. He'd never actually met Joey's dad before. And he now understood why Joey hadn't introduced the gang to him. He was mean, and the fact that Yugi had obviously woken him up by calling Joey, wasn't helping.

_"Well then," _He began, not sounding happy. (not that he did to begin with) _"Maybe I'll just keep Joey here while you all go off and-"_

He was cut off by another voice.

_"Dad! What are you doing in my room!?"_

Ok. _This time _it was Joey. Yugi just listened as they argued. He could hear lots of very loud and angry yelling. It sounded as if this was the norm for them. He listened a bit more before he heard something like somebody being thrown into a table.

"Joey!?" Yugi yelled into the phone. He knew that if anybody was thrown into the table, it was probably Joey. The yelling stopped and there was a sound like a slamming door. There was a few moments of gut wrenching silence before Yugi heard Joey pick up the phone.

"J-Joey..?" Yugi asked again, checking to make sure it was really him this time.

_"H-hey Yug..."_

Joey.

"Joey? Are you alright? What happened?" Yugi asked, by this point, he had woken Yami and he was now sitting in the conversation.

_"Nothing. Don't worry about it." _Joey answered. Don't worry about it? Yeah right.

"Joey..." Yugi said, worry pouring from his voice. "Did he...did your Father hurt you...?"

He heard Joey sigh. There was a silence that loomed heavily over them. How long? How long had he been doing this? Why hadn't Joey said anything?

_"Yeah..." _Joey said with a depressed sigh.

"I'm so sorry Joey..." Yugi answered. "I'm the one who woke him...it's my fault he hurt you..." Joey only sighed again.

_"No. It's not." _He said, confusing Yugi a bit. _"Dad was drunk again...He throws me into a table every Saturday. It's nothing I can't handle."_

"But Joey..." Yugi sighed. "Are you sure-"

_"-Yug, If I couldn't handle it, I would've moved in with you or Tristan a long time ago." _

"I guess..." Yugi sighed, still worried about his best friend. Why hadn't he ever said anything about his Father?

_"Anyways, yea. I've got everything ready to leave later. I'm lookin' forward to it." _Joey said, Yugi could tell he was just trying to change the subject. He could understand that, so he obliged to the topic change.

"So am I." He answered. Though Yugi was more concerned with the welfare of his best friend, if Joey didn't want to talk about it, he wasn't going to talk about it. So there was no sense in trying. "So I'll see you in a bit?"

_"You got it Yug. I'll be there, don't you worry about it."_

"Ok. Goodbye Joey."

_"See ya later Yug."_

Yugi sat there for a moment before hanging up the phone. He didn't want to leave Joey. Not now. Not when he knew what was happening to him every week. Maybe even every day. But he finally did hang up, but only because Yami took over and did it for him. He knew Yugi would sit there all day if he didn't do something.

"Yugi? Are you alright?" Yami asked, putting the phone down on the desk. He was worried too, though he didn't let it show.

_"I guess..."_ Yugi answered, appearing beside him. He looked positively crushed.

"You're worried about Joey." Yami said, trying somehow to make him feel better.

_"Of course I am. I mean, he's my best friend! And...I had no idea..."_ Yugi said. He had every reason to be worried about him. Who wouldn't be? (aside from Kaiba of course)

"I know. But Yugi." Yami said, taking a quick glance at the puzzle. "If your bad feeling is right...we'll have bigger problems once we get down to Miami..." He hated to be so blunt in breaking that news to Yugi. he cared for Joey very much. Yami did too, they all did, and It hurt to know what was happening to him...but they had all the time in the world to help him. Even though Yami hated knowing that of all their problems, Joey's could wait. But Yugi needed to be told.

_"I suppose you're right Yami..."_ Yugi said with a sigh. Yami couldn't stand looking at the sad expression on Yugi's face. It made him sad too.

"I promise." Yami said, getting up from the bed. "We'll help Joey when we can. Ok Yugi?"

Yugi looked up at his other half and somewhat of a smile appeared across his face.

"Ok."

* * *

Seto sat on the side of his bed. He couldn't sleep. He and Mokuba wouldn't be leaving until later that day, he didn't have an erotic dream sequence, but he had woken up from a rather restless sleep not but an hour ago. He couldn't fall back asleep. As soon as he woke, the same thoughts as before came flooding back to him.

_"Who sent that file?" _

_"Could it be her?"_

_"But that's impossible. She's been dead for years."_

_"Do other CEO's have to deal with stuff like this?"_

The thoughts had been bothering him ever since he and Mokuba first came across the file the night before. He thought it ridiculous to dwell on them, but no matter what he did, the thoughts just wouldn't go away. He got up from the bed and walked out of his bedroom, quietly walking into Mokuba's room. He didn't know why, Though eventually he figured that seeing that at leased _someone _in their home could sleep would make him feel better. He pulled up a chair and sat by Mokuba's bedside, watching him sleep peacefully. Seto could feel a small smile come across his face as he watched his little brother. It did indeed make him feel better to see Mokuba asleep. He looked so peaceful and blissfully unaware of every bad thing in the world. there was also the fact that he was incredibly adorable. He knew it was past 5 in the morning, so soon Mokuba would have to get up for breakfast. That depressed Seto. When he woke up that look of innocence that only sleep can grant would fade away. He could hear Mokuba's soft, even breathing as he sat there watching him. Seto sighed and put a hand to Mokuba's face.

_"Whoever wants revenge this time...I promise I'll protect you from them..." _He thought, standing up and putting the chair back up against the wall. He looked out the bedroom window, the sun was beginning to slowly come out for the day. He closed the curtains and walked over to the door. He quietly opened the door and looked back to his baby brother.

"Sleep well Mokuba."

* * *

**_What a chapter! Poor Joey :'( I feel so bad for him...Though, I'm the writer, so it's my fault...Joeypleasedon'thurtmeIloveyou! Anyways, DAWW Seto! The fluff! The fluff is real! There couldn't possibly be more fluff than there is right now! Ok that's a lie. But seriously. But if you guys can't tell by that over the top reaction, I love me some Kaiba bro fluff. One-sided or not. Anyways, I promise, we'kll get the plot moving along next chapter. Promise! Until then, enjoy. Favorite, Review, Follow, whatever you feel like. I don't care what you do really. Whatever you feel the need to do ;)_**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:**_** ok, I figured I owed you guys an explanation. Sorry this one took a bit longer that usual, but I have an excuse****d****on't**** hurt me! School started up again this week so I don't have much time to write anymore :'(. So I'll most likely only be posting on the weekends. So...yeah. Anyway, Enjoy! :)**_

* * *

Chapter 8

It was 7 A.M. now, and the gang had all met up at Yugi's place, they'd be leaving soon so they figured it would be easier for them all to go to the airport together as opposed to going there separately and trying to find each other.

"You guys all ready?" Yugi asked as the last of them arrived. Because let's face it, Tristan packs so much crap.

"Yeah, we're ready Yugi." Tea said, answering for all of them. "We've been ready since last night."

"Sorry, I'm just making sure." Yugi said back to her. She was right though. He'd been checking up on them way too many times today already, which was pretty ridiculous considering it was only 7 A.M.

"Well kids," Grandpa began "we'll be leaving now." He smiled as he opened the car door, they all agreed that Joey would drive them to the airport, he was probably the best driver out of all of them. And besides, it would keep him from arguing with Tristan the whole way there because he would need to concentrate on the road.

"We're ready Grandpa." Yugi said with a smile as they loaded their suitcases into the trunk and got into the car. They'd be heading for Florida in about 2 hours, it was very exciting for them all.

_"Are you still having that weird feeling Yugi?" _Yami asked as Joey started up the car. It was true. He _did _still have that feeling. He couldn't shake it. Something bad was going to happen, and he knew it. And that scared him. It scared him so much.

_"Yeah..." _Yugi thought, knowing that his Ancient Egyptian partner could hear his every thought. _"I still haven't been able to shake it...I just hope everyone will be ok..."_

_"Everything is going to be alright Yugi." _Said Yami, trying to reassure his little friend. _"I promise."_

_"I know Pharaoh..." _Yugi thought, though it was hard to trust that the Pharaoh was right this time. _"I just wish I could believe that..."_

The ride over to the airport was a relatively normal one. A bit of "tour guide" banter from Joey, a bit of back seat driving from Grandpa. Abby and Tea seemed to be having a decently normal conversation, but considering the fact that they were whispering to each other, the boys figured they were gossiping or something. Duke, Tristan, and Bakura kinda just sat there in the back, trying not to fall asleep. Needless to say, they were dead tired. They arrived quite quickly Yugi and his Grandpa didn't live _too _far from the airport. By the time they arrived, Tristan at leased, had woken up a bit more, so he helped Joey unload all of their suitcases as the others waited for them to finish.

"You ok Yugi?"

Yugi was a bit startled by that, he flinched a bit and looked up to see Tea looking down at him, with a look concern on her face.

"Yeah. I'm fine Tea." He said to her, nodding a bit. "Why do you ask?"

"You just seem a bit...distant today..." She said, as the concern in her eyes continued to grow. It grew until Yugi was sure it would spill over the edge into tears. "Like...like you're lost in particular thought."

Yugi sighed. She wasn't wrong. He really was lost in a thought. The same thought that had consumed his mind since he awoke this morning. No matter what he tried, he couldn't shake his feeling. He'd even tried smashing his face into his bedroom wall, to the point where he would've given himself a concussion if Yami hadn't stepped in and made him stop. He couldn't lie to Tea. They were too close to keep something as important as this from her, but he also didn't want her to worry. Especially if Yami was right, and everything was going to be ok.

"I'm fine Tea, really. Don't worry about it." He told her, though he knew she would. She always did, though he couldn't blame her. There was always a reason for her to worry. And sadly, she had another reason today.

"Umm...Ok..." She said, looking away from him. He had done it. He had made her worry even more than she already was. He nearly smacked himself right there, though with Tea right next to him, he figured that would be a really bad and stupid idea.

"Ok guys, we're ready." Joey called, he and Tristan had finished unloading the car.

"That's right, so let's get moving we don't have all day!" Tristan called as well. they all followed Tristan and Joey into the airport, of course, taking their suitcases with them. Because let's face it, going on a vacation without anything but the clothes off your back is a very bad idea. It was honestly a decently sized airport, they made their way through the security quiet quickly considering the fairly large amount of people. One they were through, they kinda just stood there awkwardly. They still had about an hour 'till their plane would be leaving, so they had some time to just stand there or walk around or something.

"Good morning Bakura." Abby said, she hadn't gotten the chance to say it earlier, he had been trying not to fall asleep the whole way here.

"Good morning Abby." Bakura said back to her. "Are you ready for this trip?"

"Are you kidding? I was born ready!"

Bakura could tell how happy she was. It didn't take a genius to figure that out, he was happy she was happy. Though, he felt really weird talking to her around Joey. Joey was kinda the jealous type, and considering the fact that he had a crush on her, Bakura was worried that Joey would get mad at him. 'Course, Joey didn't exactly _know _about his crush on her. No one did. And he was planning on keeping it that way.

"Well I'm glad you're so excited." Bakura said with a smile of his own.

"Hey, you're first trip with the gang!" Tristan said, interrupting their conversation, throwing his arms around their shoulders. "You excited Abby?"

"Yep!" She answered, nodding a bit. That smile on her face nearly made Bakura melt on the spot, but he had to contain those feelings. She had a boyfriend. Joey.

"That's great! I'm pretty excited myself." Tristan said, ruffling her hair a bit as he smiled that signature "Tristan Smile". If Bakura didn't know better, he'd say Tristan liked her too. But of course, he liked her, but not the same way he and Joey did. And besides, Tristan and Serenity were kind of a thing.

"So, we've got about an hour left to wait. Why don't we go exploring a little?" Joey suggested. "Besides, it would be boring just standing here for an hour anyway."

"Sounds like fun to me." Duke said in agreement.

"Cool." Tea said, grabbing Abby's arm, pulling her away from the boys. "We'll be going now."

"Uh, ok then." Abby said in slight confusion as Tea pulled her away from the group.

"Abby, I have to talk to you about Yugi." Tea said as she turned a corner, letting go of Abby's arm.

"Uh, ok." Abby said, still majorly confused. "What about Yugi?"

"Doesn't he seem a little...I don't know, _off _today?" Tea asked her, hoping that she noticed as well.

"You know, now that you mention it, yeah. He really hasn't been himself this morning." Abby answered. tea was relieved that she wasn't the only one to notice, though the fact that she obviously wasn't just going crazy made her a bit more worried. "What do you think he seems so worried about?"

"I don't know..." Tea answered "I just hope it's nothing too serious...He's always so worried about us all..."

"I know he is, but Tea. If it was really that important, he would have told us. You know that." Abby answered. Tea knew she was right. Yugi would've told them if he was worrying about something important right?

...Right...?

* * *

_**Well, this one took a bit longer. But I have an excuse. School started up again, so I'll most likely only be posting chapters on weekends, which is really sad :(. Anyways, hopefully the plot moved along enough this time, I promise they'll actually *leave* next time, and then this will *really* move along. Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed. Review, Favorite, Follow, do whatever. See you guys next time! :)**_


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: _Ok, I'm super sorry this one took a bit longer. Ok. a LOT longer. I haven't had much time to work on this chapter at all lately and I feel bad. like seriously. I am SOOOOOO sorry! I can't apologize enough, so please don't kill me. Please, please, please, PLEASE don't kill me! Soooooooooo...yeah. Anyways, again I apologize, and I hope you enjoy it. :)...or I will be very sad. :'(_**

* * *

Chapter 9

"I know." Tea said, letting out a slight sigh. "But...somehow, I get the feeling that he's not telling us _because _it's important..." She had a point. But...why would Yugi do that? Why wouldn't he tell anyone what's wrong?

"Why would he do that? I mean, what would be the point?" Abby asked, obviously not thinking the same way Tea was.

"He doesn't want to worry us I guess.." Tea said, but she didn't understand. Yugi never hid things from them. Why would he do it now? It just didn't make any sense.

"I suppose so." Abby said, leaning her back up against the window. Trying to look cool. But it just wasn't working very well for her.

Tea nodded, sitting down on the window sill. She still didn't quite understand. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't find a way to make this make any sense to her in the slightest.

_"What's going on Yugi?" _She thought, glancing out the window. _"What are you hiding from us?"_

* * *

"Good morning Seto..." Mokuba said, tiredly rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he sat down at the table.

"Good morning." Seto replied, bringing Mokuba his breakfast. _"Kid looks like he's about to pass out.." _He thought. Obviously Mokuba hadn't gotten enough sleep that night. "You ok kid?"

"Yeah, I'm fine..." Mokuba said with a slight yawn. "I'm just tired.."

"Well alright then. You can sleep on the plane ok?" Seto said. He was acting completely out of character, but he didn't really mind at the moment. He couldn't help it. When it came to Mokuba, big brother mode pretty much almost always kicked in first. He was always that way. Ever since they were little kids.

"Ok." Mokuba answered, finally taking a bite of his breakfast. "You're still worried about what that file said, aren't you Seto?"

"What makes you think so?" Seto asked, beginning to eat his own breakfast.

"I don't know. But, considering what it said, I just figured you were." Mokuba answered, yawning slightly yet again.

_"Dammit I hate it when he's right..." _Seto thought. Though he didn't mean that completely.

"Ok, you're right." He said, sighing a bit. "I _am _a little bit worried. But that isn't going to bother me. And you shouldn't let it bother you either." Ok, now he was acting a little more out of character, but Mokuba seemed to just dismiss it, so it didn't really matter.

"If you say so." Mokuba said, yawning a little again.

Seto smiled at his little brother. A smile that only Mokuba received, even though he knew Mokuba wished that he _would _show that smile to other people. But that wasn't going to be happening any time soon.

"Yes, I do say so." Seto said. He _always _said so. "We'll be leaving soon. Did you pack yet?"

"Yeah." Mokuba said yawning a bit again.

"Good." Seto said with a nod. He had hoped Mokuba had packed already so they could just leave. This was good. The sooner they got out of here, the better off they'd be. At least that's what he thought..

* * *

"So, what do you think Tea wanted to talk to Abby so bad about?" Duke asked as he and the other guys walked around the airport, they still had a little time before they had to leave, so they were still wandering around aimlessly.

"Maybe she wanted to talk about her crush on Yugi here." Tristan said, putting an arm around his friend. A very trying task considering that he was much taller than Yugi.

"What!?" Yugi practically shouted, blushing a little bit. He liked Tea a lot, but if she liked him too, then his life would be complete. In a sense.

"Makes sense to me. I mean, you _do _know how much she likes you." Joey said, looking down at Yugi. "Don't you?"

"Well, uh I mean, I-I suppose-"

"Come on guys, leave him alone." Bakura said, saving Yugi from an extremely awkward situation.

"Alright, alright." Tristan said, keeping his arm around Yugi. " But Duke started it."

"Hey!" Duke yelled, honestly quite offended.

Yugi just kinda laughed at them. He knew his friends were only teasing, but that didn't make it any less awkward for him. Still, it was nice to know they were happy. Not that Yugi _wasn't _happy. But that feeling was still haunting him. And something told him it wouldn't be going away any time soon.

"Hey guys." Tea said, walking up to them with Abby and Grandpa.

"Hey, Tea." Joey said, waving slightly at them. Adding a small smile, cause why not?

"It's time we get on our way." Grandpa said, looking upon the group of teenagers. They all nodded and proceeded to be on their way to the plane. But, Yugi was still struggling with a certain feeling.

_"Yugi?"_

"What?" Yugi asked quietly. Since the others were around, he had to be quiet so they wouldn't pick up on the conversation he and the Pharaoh were about to have.

_"That feeling you've been having..." _Yami said. Yugi could just sense the seriousness denoted in Yami's voice. _"I feel it too now..."_

"You do?" Yugi whispered, trying his best to keep quiet as he and the others made their way to the plane. "So I'm _not _crazy."

_"Far from, actually." _Yami said _"I don't know what this could mean either, but be careful, Yugi. And watch out for the others. We can't have them getting hurt."_

"You got it." Yugi said, nodding slightly, drawing a bit of attention to himself. At least some attention from Tea.

"Is something wrong, Yugi?" She asked, turning to him. "Are you talking to yourself?"

"No." Yugi began, looking up at his lovely friend. "I was talking to the Pharaoh."

"Oh, ok." Tea said, smiling at him. That smile melted his heart, she was so beautiful he could hardly look at her without going into some kind of lovesick puppy mode. But of course, with Yami's help (via a mental smack in the head) he was able to retain his composure around her most of the time.

"Yep." Yugi said, nodding up at her as they continued on, nearly to the gate now.

"Well, let's just go to Florida and have some fun, ok?" Tea asked, keeping up that beautiful smile of hers.

Yugi nodded once more, and smiled at her speeding up a tiny bit so they could catch up with the others, who were slightly ahead of them now.

"Ok."

The two of them caught up honestly quite quickly, but considering the others weren't very far ahead of them at all, that was kind of a given anyways, they all just kinda stood there for a moment before getting on the plane, everyone was smiling and laughing and talking, as all friends do. But Yugi and Yami stayed silent. Tea looked down at her friend, he was just staring forward with a serious look on his face. He looked to be thinking, but somehow...for some reason...it made her sad...she couldn't explain it to even herself, why those feelings of depression had come over her...maybe it was because Yugi didn't seem happy, like the others. Maybe because when he looked serious like that, it meant something was wrong, or was going to be wrong. but whatever the reason, she knew one thing.

If it was bothering Yugi. Then it would bother her, too.

* * *

**_Again, I apologize for not posting in a really long time...I've just been stuck on this one. You know? I didn't really have any inspiration, but obviously I've had enough to finish it! Anyways, this will only be relavent for a little while, but since this chapter is going up on today of all days...HAPPY THANKSGIVING! :D_**


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: ****_I apologize for being gone so long guys :( I hope you didn't miss me too much. ;) I'm back now, so let's get this show on the road! YEAH! WOO!_**

* * *

Chapter 10

"First time on a Plane, Abby?" Joey asked, looking to her. She had been shaking since the plane took off.

"Y-Yeah..." She answered, trying to avoid looking out the window. She wasn't necessarily afraid of planes, per say. It was heights she was afraid of. Ever since she was a little kid, she _hated _being up high. Not even because being up high was what scared her. What scared her, was the thought of falling.

"Don't worry." He said, taking her hand, trying to console her. "Everything will be fine."

"I-I know..." She answered back, finally taking a quick glance out the window.

'You'll be fine." Joey said, smiling his beautiful smile for her. His smile always made everything better.

* * *

"Hey, Bakura?" Tea asked, looking at him. He was staring at Joey and Abby. And he had been for a long time. It was starting to get weird.

He didn't answer her.

"Bakura?" She asked again, tapping his shoulder a little, snapping him out of whatever state of mind he had entered.

"Huh? W-What?" He asked, looking around with a very confused expression on his face. Clearly, he didn't know what the actual crap was going on outside of his own little world in his head.

"You've been staring at Joey and Abby for a long time now." Tea said, a almost concerned looking expression on her face. "Is something wrong?"

"Oh. N-No, nothing's wrong, Tea." He answered, regaining his composure. Trying to appear completely normal. But she already knew he was far from that now.

"Bakura. You can tell me if something is wrong...we're friends aren't we?" She asked. Concerned that he wasn't talking to her. Clearly something was bothering him. Why wouldn't he talk to her about it? Perhaps it was none of her business, but she couldn't help but try to get him to talk. Even if she didn't succeed. What kind of friend would she be if she didn't even try?

"Tea...of course we're friends.." Bakura said. He felt awful for making her doubt their friendship...what kind of friend does that to another friend? "I just...don't want to talk about it right now...alright..?"

"Oh...uh, sure.." She answered, and inaudible sigh escaping from her lips as she turned away from him, glancing over to Yugi...he was _still_ thinking...something had to be seriously bothering him...he wasn't even talking to his grandfather...he was just sitting there...pondering...

_"Yugi..." _Tea thought..a sad expression coming over her face as she looked at him.. _"What's wrong...?"_

* * *

"So, Duke. Ever been to Florida before?" Tristan asked, turning to their dice loving friend. Everybody had picked somebody to sit with on the plane, and _he. _Was stuck with Duke.

"Yeah." Duke answered, turning to him as well. "A few years ago. It's nice down there. Very sunny."

"Well, I expected as much." Tristan said, very bored with this conversation already.

"So, what's up with Yugi?" Duke asked, looking over Tristan's shoulder to their short, spikey haired friend. "He's been just sitting there like that since the plane took off. Tea told me earlier that he hasn't said a thing since we got on."

"I dunno." Tristan said, turning to Yugi as well. "I haven't seen him like this since he lost to Kaiba at Duelist Kingdom."

"Really?" Duke asked, looking back to Tristan, with a confused look on his face. He wasn't there, so he wouldn't know about that.

"Yeah." Tristan said, nodding as he turned back to Duke. "And back there, it took Tea dueling Mai to snap him out of it." He turned back to Yugi for a second. "'Course, I doubt this is the same."

"Well, whatever it is, it's weird." Duke said, leaning back in his seat a bit. "I mean, the Pharaoh probably knows what's going on. But we both know he probably wouldn't tell us if we asked."

"Yeah, that's true." Tristan said, sighing quietly to himself. "They wouldn't want us to know, 'cause they wouldn't want to worry us."

"Yeah? Well we're worried anyway." Duke answered, crossing his arms a bit.

"Yeah. I know. But I don't think Yugi and the Pharaoh realize that at the moment." Tristan said, relaxing back into his seat, trying not to worry. For Yugi's sake, as well as the sake of his sanity.

"Well, whatever's going on. It's gonna be okay." Duke said, relaxing back into his seat as well. Normally, it was Duke who pointed out all the negatives in a situation. But apparently today was going to be different for him.

"Yeah.." Tristan sighed, glancing back over to Yugi for a moment. "You're right..."

* * *

"Big brother?" Mokuba asked through a small yawn. "How long will it take to get there?"

"Not too long." Seto said, working on something on his computer. As always. Work was commonplace in Seto's life, so it didn't surprise the small child at all that he was working now.

"Okay." Mokuba said, taking a glance out the window of their plane. He thought the clouds were very pretty. As any child his age would.

Seto continued working for a little while. Work helped him keep his mind off why they were actually going to Miami. True, he'd have a meeting to go to when he went there anyways, but that wasn't why they were going. He wasn't even going to go. And even if he did plan on going in the first place, he wouldn't be bringing Mokuba. He knew how business meetings bored the kid to death, plus, he'd have a reason to go home if Mokuba was back there waiting for him. He would always come home to Mokuba. Nothing would ever change that. Never.

_"It's not her. It can't be her." _Seto thought, noticing the file, still on his computer. _"That's impossible. She's dead. She committed suicide two years ago..."_

"Big brother?"

"Huh?" Seto asked, snapping out of his thoughts upon hearing Mokuba's concerned call. "What is it, Mokuba?"

"Are you okay?" Mokuba asked, looking a bit concerned.

"Yes, Mokuba. I'm fine." Seto lied, returning to what he was doing, just as negligent as ever.

"Okay then.." Mokuba sighed, looking back out the window. Seto would never admit it if something was bothering him. It would be best from him not to ask about it again, Mokuba thought.

_"That's the way it's always been..." _The little boy sighed, glancing back to his big brother, typing away on his computer. _"And always will be..."_

* * *

**_I DID IT! AFTER WHO KNOWS HOW LONG I POSTED ANOTHER CHAPTER! YAAAAY! :D I hope you guys enjoyed it! Sorry it's been so long.._**


	11. Chapter 11

_**WOW I'm just on a roll now! Let's see if I can keep this up!;) Hold me to it if I promise to keep it up, guys!**_

* * *

Chapter 11

"Are we there yet?" Joey asked, looking to the others. By this point, everyone was getting tired and bored. So they didn't blame him for asking. Though that is the most annoying question anyone could ask anyone i9n the whole entire world. And pretty much everyone agreed on that. But they answered him anyway.

"Not yet, Joey." Tristan said, so bored he was falling asleep.

"How much longer...?" Joey asked, leaning back in his seat, very bored. Planes were boring after a while to be honest. Especially for poor Joey here. Travel was very boring for him where there was nothing but clouds to see.

"Just take a nap or something, Joe." Duke said, leaning back in his seat. Honestly, very tired of Joey's whining. As most of them were by this point, which was understandable.

"Why don't _you _take a nap, Duke?" Joey retaliated. Beginning to sound more like a petulant child than a high schooler.

"Oh, go jump out the window." Duke said, leaning back in his seat again as he turned away. Really getting annoyed by him at this point. As most of them were, but that was rude.

Among the childish arguing of Joey and Duke, Tea looked over at Yugi. He was still just staring at the puzzle. Thinking just like before. It was weird...she couldn't think of a time where he had done anything like this before...not since he lost to Kaiba in Duelist Kingdom...but this wasn't the same thing. Not at all. She knew that it wasn't. This was something different. Something bigger. It _had _to be. But what worried her the most, was that Yugi wasn't talking to them at all...that's what scared her.

"Yugi?" She called quietly, trying to rouse him from his silence. But he didn't respond to her. Tea could feel small tears enter her eyes. Yugi wasn't talking to anyone...he wasn't even looking at them...he was only thinking...staring at the puzzle...

_"Yugi...what's wrong...?" _She thought, gently wiping the tears away. Keeping her gaze fixed on Yugi. _"Please talk to me...please..."_

"Yugi, Tea's trying to talk to you." Grandpa said, turning to his grandson. Also trying to get his attention, mostly for Tea's benefit.

_"Yugi, talk to the others." _Yami said, trying to get Yugi to relax a little about all of this. _"Let me worry about this feeling we have."_

_"But, Pharaoh..." _Yugi thought, still quite worried about it anyway. If the feeling he and Yami had was right, something bad was going to happen...and he didn't want anyone to get hurt...his friends were too important to him for him to stand by while something horrible happen to them.

_"I mean it, Yugi." _Yami said, sounding very serious, as per the usual. _"You're worrying everone more by not talking to them then if you just told them what was going on. Just look at Tea! She's in tears because you're scaring her by not talking to anyone, which you haven't done since before we left!"_

It didn't occur to Yugi just how long he'd gone without talking to anyone...he'd been thinking for so long, he was starting to scare Tea...

_"Has it really been that long...?" _Yugi thought, hoping to all the higher powers that it hadn't been as long as Yami was making it out to be. Thinking so hard had left him with almost no sense of time. He had no idea how long it had really been...

_"Yes, Yugi." _Yami said, nodding a little at him. It had been a couple hours since Yugi had said anything to anyone at all.

_"Wow..."_

_"It's alright, Yugi." _Yami said, trying to make him feel better about this. _"You just let me worry about these things, and let everyone know you're alright."_

_"Okay..." _Yugi sighed, still feeling pretty awful about ignoring his friends for so long. _"Thanks, Pharaoh.."_

_"Anytime, Yugi." _Yami said, nodding slightly to his young partner. Who, in tern. Turned to Tea.

"Tea?"

Tea stiffened up at the sound of Yugi's voice. She was relieved to hear his voice again. But it surprised her.

"Yugi!" She said, her eyes widened in awe. He was talking again!

"Sorry if I worried you, Tea..." Yugi said, feeling very sorry indeed.. "I didn't mean to..."

"It's alright, Yugi. Really." Tea said, giving him a very sincere look. She knew he didn't mean to frighten anyone...Yugi would never do such a thing on purpose...that's just the kind of person Yugi was. Putting the feelings and needs of others before his own.

"Are you sure..?" Yugi asked, worried that she was more worried than she was leading him to believe. She would do that sometimes...hide her worry from him, to keep him from worrying, as well...but it wasn't working this time. He knew just how worried she was about him. He hadn't said a word since they got on the plane. If she wasn't worried, then she wouldn't be Tea. She couldn't be.

"I'm sure, Yugi." She said, giving him a small nod. But something told him she was lying to him...just a little..

* * *

"Big brother, are we there yet...?" Mokuba asked, succumbing to the grip of boredom. But he was ten years old, and they'd just been sitting around on a plane all day. It was totally normal for him to be bored.

"Almost, Mokuba." Seto said, continuing to work on his computer, as he had been doing all day. Work kept his mind off things, and helped him to focus. Plus, all of this mystery file nonsense had put him behind on a few things. But of course, his brother had nothing to do, being a ten year old child and all.

"Okay.." Mokuba sighed, taking a glance out the window at the clouds. Surely they had to be there soon. But for now, he would sit there and be bored like a normal child would be. But the thing was, he _wasn't _a normal child. He was Seto Kaiba's little brother. He shouldn't be sitting around doing nothing. But that's all there really was for him to do right now. So that really wasn't his fault.

"You're bored." Seto said, looking up from his computer. He could understand why his brother would be bored. They've been on a plane all day, and there really wasn't anything for him to do while they were waiting to get there. He took a nap earlier, but it only lasted for about an hour before they hit some turbulence, which woke him up of course.

"Yeah. So?" Mokuba asked, keeping his eyes toward the window. Watching the clouds was relaxing, and actually kind of fun.

"Are you okay?" Seto asked, sensing his brother's slightly hostile tone. Which definitely wasn't commonplace with the boy.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Mokuba answered, looking back to his big brother. He really was fine, just extremely bored by this point. Which was annoying. Really. _Really. _Annoying.

"Alright, then." Seto answered, looking back to his computer for a quick second before closing it and actually putting it away.

"Seto, you don't have to stop working because I'm bored." Mokuba said, noticing that Seto had put his computer away, which was something that only happened once in a while, to be perfectly honest.

"I know." Seto said, getting up and going to sit next to Mokuba. "But I was finished anyway."

"Yeah, because that makes it better." Mokuba said, rolling his eyes a little. "So, did you find anything?" He knew what Seto was _really _doing. He was looking into that mysterious file they found the other day.

"No." Seto answered, shaking his head slightly. "But don't worry about it. I'll get to the bottom of this."

"I know you will, Big brother." Mokuba said, looking to his brother. That's just the kind of thing Seto did. He solved his own problems, as quickly as he could. That's just the way he was. And sometimes...

They wished that would change..


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

A couple hours had passed since Yugi had finally talked again. And they had finally reached their destination! Which was really good for them, because Joey was _seriously _starting to annoy the crap out of everyone.

"Yes, Joey. We're here no." Tristan sighed, getting tired of Joey asking. But luckily for him, it was over now..

"_Finally!" _Joey sighed with relief. He hated long trips, so this was a nightmare for him. But not as much as it was for everyone else having to listen to his constant questions and complaining. But it was just that kind of thing that made him who he was. So they really didn't mind as much as it seemed they did. Joey was their friend after all. "Let's get going! The Professor's probably waiting for us!"

"I'd be surprised if he wasn't." Abby said, getting up from her seat as they proceeded to exit the plane. Thank the gods it was over. Standing never felt so good! They all got off the plane and went to baggage claim. No sense leaving without your stuff. That would just be stupid.

"As would I." Grandpa said, as they grabbed their things. "He said he'd meet us there, so we should probably hurry. We wouldn't want to keep him waiting now, would we?" He smiled at the teenagers. He had a point. Making the Professor wait for them would just be rude.

"Okay then, let's go already." Duke said, keeping up his typical demeanor. Which annoyed the crap out of Tristan. As always.

"Why don't you just shut up for once?" Tristan asked, trying not to blow a fuse. Duke really annoyed him sometimes. It was almost unhealthy how annoyed he got at times. But they were still friends anyways.

"Oh come on, Tristan." Duke said, throwing his arm around Tristan's shoulders. "You know you can't resist me." He laughed a little at himself. Teasing Tristan was always a fun thing to do. And since Tristan was dating Serenity now, it was extra fun!

"WHAT!?" Tristan yelled, looking down at Duke like he was a crazy person. "You're the _last _person I can't resist, Devlin!' He threw Duke's arm off of him, and backed away. Sometimes they were like that. It was really funny actually. But also kinda cute...

"Come on, guys." Yugi said, looking around at everyone so Yami could take roll call in the puzzle. Just to be safe. Yami was quite the protective spirit when it came to taking trips. And, just in general. "Let's go. Okay?"

"Right, Yug." Joey said, placing himself between Duke and Tristan to avoid any unnecessary conflict between the two. "We've gotta go meet the Professor."

The group nodded and grabbed their things quickly as they made their way to the exit. The airport was relatively close to the museum, so they could easily just walk there in a few minutes. Which was good for them.

"Lead the way, gramps." Joey said, as they exited the airport. They really didn't have too far to go. A couple of streets maybe. But it was within walking distance.

_"Are you alright, Yugi?" _Yami asked, checking up on his friend.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Yugi whispered quietly to him as they made their way to the museum.

_"You're sure?" _Yami asked. He wanted them both to be absolutely certain about that.

"Yes, Yami. I'm sure." Yugi whispered. He really was okay. He figured Yami would be able to figure that out on his own. Their spirits were connected after all. Shouldn't he already know?

_"I know, Yugi." _Yami said, calmly.

"I knew it." Yugi whispered. Seriously, Yami was a little ridiculous sometimes.

_"I just wanted to hear you say it."_

"Why?" Yugi asked, confused by that. If Yami already knew, he shouldn't've even asked him how he was feeling at all. Seriously. Sometimes Yami just made no sense at all.

_"So we both knew you were sure." _Yami explained. _"If you're feeling distressed. Everyone will be discouraged as well. I know you know that, as well as I, and the others do."_

"What are you saying, Yami?" Yugi asked, even more confused than before.

_"Cheer up, Yugi."_

Yugi sighed quietly to himself, trying not to attract the other's attention. Worrying everyone wasn't exactly something he wanted to do right now. Or ever, for that matter. So he kept quiet. Not that they would necessarily notice, exactly. Not meaning that they didn't care, but they were all having conversations of their own. Besides. Yugi was never really one for attention anyways.

* * *

Kaiba's plane landed shortly after Yugi and the others did. Of course, they didn't know that Yugi and his friends were here in the first place, and vice versa. But nobody said that it would stay that way. Things have a way of turning out the same way every time. They'd meet eventually. It was an inevitable fact, supported by intertwining destinies.

"We're here, Mokuba."

"I know." He said, looking to his brother. "I wasn't sleeping, you know."

"I know." Seto answered, returning his little brother's slightly sassy tone with one of his own. Which was odd. But pleasant to the ear.

"So, where are we going anyway?" Mokuba asked, getting up from his seat. "I mean, we're here. What now?"

"You'll see, little brother." Seto said, packing up his computer as they readied to get off their plane. "I'll have to go straight to the meeting, but after that, I'll figure out this file business. So don't worry about it, okay?"

"You know, that only makes me worry about it more." Mokuba said, giving a very natural response. Besides, he was a child. It would be more concerning if he _wasn't _worried. And besides, that was Seto's job. Seto never worried about things. At leased...not around anyone. He kept up that same façade for years. And it wasn't coming down anytime soon. He couldn't let it. He had built up those walls years and years ago. Building them up higher, and stronger everyday. Every moment passed, another brick was layed. Another memory, locked away. Another person shut out. Mokuba was the only one he let through the gates. The only person allowed behind those cold stone walls inside Kaiba's heart. The only would who knew how good and kind, Kaiba really was..

"It'll be alright." Seto said, done gathering his work things he had brought with him to work on, since he really had had nothing else to do while they flew down here.

"I know." Mokuba said, following Seto off the plane. "But still...these things never turn out good...you know...?"

Seto nodded slowly. He understood what Mokuba was saying. He was right. Things like this never turn out good for people. Especially them. Something terrible _always _happens to one or the other. Sometimes even both of them, to the point where Yugi had to step in and save them both. And he hated that. He already hated Yugi enough without him getting involved in things. But still...he couldn't help but feel a little grateful. A natural thing for any human being to feel. But he still hated it. He hated getting help from others. He was Seto Kaiba. He could do it all alone...

Or so he thought...

* * *

**Author's Note: ****_Hey guys. I just wanna say thanks for all the support and awesomeness that is you guys! :) Without you guys, I don't know how much further this story would've gone passed the first chapter. And soon we'll be in Chapter 13! And we've still got a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG way to go! So I hope you guys enjoy, and stick with me here, because we've still got at leased 2 or 3 more in-story days to cover before we circle around to the events of chapter one again. Anyways, I just wanna say thank you, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter, :) and I love you guys! 3_**


	13. Chapter 13

**_Author's Note:_ Sorry this one took so long guys...I've been working on a bunch of other stuff so I haven't really had the time, plus school just started up again last week so we're a bit busy. Anyways, I hope you enjoy, and I own NOTHING! Except my OC's obviously. :3**

* * *

Chapter 13

"There you are, Solomon!"

"Hello, Arthur!" Grandpa said happily, as they approached the museum. "It's been a long time."

"Yes..it has." The professor said, looking over the group of teenagers and grandpa_._ "So, how have you all been?"

"We've been pretty good." Yugi answered, smiling at the professor, who looked around once more, and took notice of a certain new young woman.

"And who is this young lady?" He asked, looking over to her, offering her a little smile as she looked to be feeling a little awkward, never having met the professor before.

"Oh, this is Abby." Joey explained, gesturing to their new young friend. "She moved to Domino a few months ago."

"Hi." She said, smiling as she waved a little.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, young lady." The professor said, politely shaking her hand, offering her a smile as well.

"Also, she's my girlfriend." Joey added with a little smile as he put his arm around her smaller shoulders.

"Well, that's wonderful." The professor said, smiling at the two teens. He thought it was quite sweet that they were in a relationship. They looked like they were really cute together to be perfectly honest. But then again, most everyone did. "Well I'm glad you all could make it here safely."

"As are we." Grandpa said with a smile as they continued their conversation. "It really is a pleasure to see you again, my old friend.."

"Yes, I agree." The professor said, smiling as well. Everyone was happy that they were all there. It felt really good to be among friends... "Now. Shall we go inside?"

"Sounds good to me." Joey said, wiping sweat from his forehead. It was quite warm that day, and the sunlight wasn't helping that hardly at all.

"Yeah...It's hot out here..." Bakura said, wiping some sweat from his forehead.

"Well, that's because-" Duke said, quickly catching the attention of Tristan, who immedietly interrupted him.

"I swear to _God." _Tristan said with a glare. He knew _exactly _what Duke was about to say.

"Anyways, let's go." Téa said in agreement. Also dying from the heat. As they all were at this point. The professor nodded and smiled as he proceeded to lead them inside the museum. Which was good because there was AC in there and they were all burning to death outside. So the inside was a welcomed change of venue.

* * *

"Welcome, Mr. Kaiba." a man in a black suit said as the two brothers exited their private jet.

"Whatever." Seto said, turning his head slightly to make sure his little brother was still there. Ever since the events of Duelist Kingdom, Seto had become a little overly parinoid and concerned for his brother's safety. Of course, no one really minded too much. After all, it would be expected of _anyone _to become a bit parinoid after such tramatic events.

"If you and your brother would please follow me, we can get this meeting underway." The man said. "After all, I'm sure you have more important things to do."

Seto decided right there that he wouldn't say anything to piss everyone off..._yet. _It wouldn't be the smartest thing for him to go and start making a scene as soon as they arrived. Plus, he was an adult. So he should act like one. Mokuba could run around causing disruptions all day long if he wanted to. It would be expected of a child his age to get bored and go off exploring and disrupting an office environment. But Seto was an adult. If he went around yelling at everyone and causing trouble, not only would it set a bad example for his ten year-old brother, but it would also reflect badly upon Kaiba Corp if it's CEO went around acting like a petulant child and causing trouble. Besides. He knew better than that.

"Very well." he said, noding slightly, lacing his hand gently on his brother's back. "Come along, Mokuba."

"Okay.." the cute little boy said, nodding slightly, mentally preparing himself for being stuck in an office building for who knows how long...normally it didn't bother him so much. But they were in a completely different state, with a bunch of strangers. And at leased at Kaiba Corp he always had _something _to do, or some employee he could play with. Usually Roland, since he was practically a second father figure for the small child. But here, with strangers, and under the circumstances that lef Seto to decide to actually come, he would have to sit in the meeting with Seto and listen to a bunch of suits talk about buisness stuff, that in reality he wasn't even remotely interested in.

"Mr. Kaiba, if your brother would rather not come to the meeting, I can arrange for someone to stay with him at your hotel." the man said, turning back to the two brothers. Immediately losing a few trust points in Seto's mind.

"With all do respect, I'd rather he stay with me." Seto said, repositioning his arm protectively around his little brother's shoulders. Under these circumstances, and really not caring enough to actually know anyone down here. He wasn't about to leave his little brother alone with some stranger.

"I understand." The man nodded, proceeding to lead the two brothers out of the airport and out to the limo that was waiting for them outside, ready to take them to the office buildings of boredom.

"Big brother...do I _have _to go...?" Mokuba asked as the man drove them to the meeting. Honestly, he _really _didn't want to. But also, he knew what Seto was about to say.

"Yes, Mokuba. I'd prefer it if you did." he said, looking down at him a little bit, maintaining that classic emotionless look on his face that he pretty much always had.

"Okay..." The little boy sighed, not really looking forward to sitting in a room with a bunch of strange people. Specifically strange _buisness _people. But at least he'd be with his big brother. So that was good. Truly, he didn't want to be here at all. But given the circumstances, he understood why he kinda had to be.

"_I know he doesn't want to be here." _Seto thought as the man drove them to the office building. _"And normally I'd be fine with leaving him at home with Roland watching him. But that's too risky this time. I'll make it up to him when we get home."_

At least...he _hoped _they could go home...honestly, he didn't know _what _to think at this point. If whoever sent those files is who he thought it was, then then most likely...they wouldn't be leaving any time soon...


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"So, what exactly is his exhibit about, professor?" Tea asked, hoping to get a group conversation going so the guys would be to occupied to be stupid. Though she doubted that would actually happen.

"Well that's just it, Tea." The professor said, turning to everyone. "It's about Ancient Egypt." He looked to Yugi, aware that the Pharaoh was there as well. "That's why I asked your grandfather to bring you all along."

"Really?" Yugi asked, curious as to what exactly _about _Egypt was included in this new exhibit. He hoped it was something that could help Yami get his memories back. He had some of the by now, but not enough for him to really _know _anything about himself aside from the fact that he was a Pharaoh who lived 5000 years ago, and saved the world from a great evil. But they had already known that for a while now.

"Yes, Yugi." The professor said, nodding slightly. "I hope it will be of some help to you."

"Me too..." Yugi said, thinking back on everything they knew and still didn't know about Yami. He hoped more than anything that they could help him remember...

_"Yugi?"_

"Yeah?" Yugi whispered quietly as Joey began to ask a bunch of stupid questions.

_"May I take over for a moment? I would like to speak to the professor."_

"Uh...sure." Yugi said quietly. Surprised by how polite Yami was being. He usually just took over without a word...so why ask..?

And just like that, Yami emerged from the puzzle. Switching places with Yugi for the first time in a while. Naturally, everyone was surprised, but also very happy to be seeing the Pharaoh again.

"Ahh. You must be the Pharaoh." The professor said, holding out his hand for Yami to shake. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Yes, it's a pleaure to finally introduce myself to you, Professor." Yami said back, taking the professor's hand for a gentle handshake.

"I assume you're interested in this exhibit." The professor said, smiling a little, as he was aware of their situation. Grandpa had taken the liberty of explaining as much as he could to him before they came, so he wouldn't be misinformed.

"I am." Yami said. "Tell me, Professor, what is in this exhibit?"

"Well, we've recovered a few artifacts that could very well possibly date back to your time period, actually." The professor explained, smiling a little. Glad he may be of some help.

"You serious?" Joey asked, completely shocked by what he just heard.

"His time...?" Abby asked, very confused. No one had actually told her much about the Pharaoh aside from the fact that he was a spirit. They didn't want to bother her with such important information just yet. But it seemed they would have to explain things to her now..

"You guys seriously didn't tell her?" Duke asked, surprised that they hadn't said anything. Even _he _knew more than she did it seemed. And her being Joey's girlfriend, Duke had assumed he'd've told her _something._

"Well...not..._yet._" Joey said, awkwardly scratching his head like an adorable little puppy dog.

"Tell me what?" Abby asked, completely cluless as to what exactly it was that she didn't know. Which was a _lot, _actually.

"You see, Abby." Bakura began, taking the liberty of starting the explanation. "Yami isn't only a spirit."

"What does that mean?" She asked, looking to Yami for a sec, then to the rest of the group.

"Abby, let _me _explain." Yami said, walking over to her. "I may not know much about my past, or who I am _exactly._ But I am a five thousand year old spirit spirit who resides within the Millennium Puzzle. I was a Pharaoh in ancient Egypt, and I saved the world from a great evil once."

"...What?" Abby asked, raising an eyebrow at him. Not really getting any of this.

"It's true, Abby." Tristan said, looking seriously at her. In the entirety of the few months she'd known him, Tristan had never once lied to her. Ever. She knew his word could be trusted.

"Whoa..." She said, her mind imploding as she tried to process this.

"It's okay." Téa said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We didn't get it when we first found out, either." She smiled a bit, trying to make their friend feel less like whoa. "It was a pretty big shock for all of us."

"Wow...that's...that's crazy.." Abby said quietly, majorly confused and her mind totally blown right now.

"I apologize you had to find this out so suddenly.." Yami said, feeling bad about not making them tell her sooner. This couldn't be easy for her to comprehend at the moment..

"Why didn't you tell me until now..?" She asked, looking to Joey. Clearly the question was meant for him mostly.

"Ab, we just didn't want you to have to worry about all of this stuff.." Joey said, a sad look coming across his face. She had to feel like they didn't trust her...

"But..." She said, also looking sad. "We're all friends, right...? Don't you want my help..?"

"Of course we do!" Téa interjected, trying to help Joey out of this hole he had found himself in.

"We just wanted to keep you out of harms way as long as we could.." Yami said, also trying to help Joey out. Clearly he was going to be in the most trouble with her. "We didn't want you to get dragged into the danger we've all been brought into..."

"But surely everyone else knew.." Abby said, turning away, kinda in the pouty phase right now.

"Well, yes...but-" Yami began again, quickly being interrupted by her.

"-Even Kaiba. I'm sure."

Clearly they should've said something sooner. Bad move on their part.

"Yes, he knows..." Joey said, feeling like a complete ass right now..

"But he doesn't believe any of it." Tristan said, hoping that her complete trust in him could help ease the situation out of this bad place it was in right now. They didn't _want _to make her feel so bad and untrusted...and truly, they were _going _to tell her everything. They just hoped it would've come a little more naturally than this...you know. To ease her into everything instead of dropping a huge bomb on her like that.

"Abby, they only wanted to protect you for as long as they could.." Grandpa said, stepping in as the voice of reason.

"I understand that, it's just...this is all so much to take right now...I mean...I knew Yami was a seperate person from Yugi, but...this is crazy..." She said, really not so much angry anymore than she was confused. She honestly wasn't that angry to begin with. She just didn't understand anything she was hearing.

"I'm sorry we didn't say anything sooner..." Joey said, putting a hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her. "I promise we'll keep you in the loop from now on.."

"Thanks..." She said, turning around and giving him a gentle hug.

_"Thanks for not squeezing me..." _he thought, hugging her back. Truthfully, he was still sore from being thrown around by his dad that morning...so far only Yugi and Tristan knew about that...and he hoped no one else would ever find out...not even Serenity knew...he hoped more than anything she never would...

Professor!"

They all looked over to see a pale girl with short black hair running over to them, waving her arms like a weirdo. She slowed to a stop as she approached them, leaning over for a second, placing her hands on her knees as she panted and caught her breath quickly.

"They're ready for you in the exhibit hall.."

"Ahh yes, thank you." The professor said, smiling as she stood to her full height, and as everyone stared, confused as to who she was.

"Uhhh..."

She also noticed they were staring.

"Oh, that's right." The professor said, also noticing. "Everyone, this is Nori. She's my assistant."

"Hi!" She said, smiling happily. Bakura couldn't help but blush ash she looked them all over. He couldn't explain why. He didn't even know this girl, and he had a crush on Abby, anyways. So...what was it about this...Nori girl..?

* * *

_**Yeah, that's right! I'm cliffhanging it there! And yeah. Another OC has made an appearance! But who is she? Don't get excited. I'm not gonna tell you. But anways, yeah. She's my sister's OC, so she gets credit for her. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :D**_


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note: _Hey guys, I'm just here to clear up an important question I was asked. Despite what may be the popular opinion, this story doesn't actually take place during any of the seasons. but it takes place /between/ seasons. Namely 3 and 4. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. "If so, then shouldn't Mokuba be 12, not 10?" Well, normally yeah, but no. My heart can't handle that. He's only allowed to be 10 and under. In /my/ stories at least. But that's not the most important thing. The thing is that the professor hasn't /yet/ met Yami, because we're in between seasons. But he just did last chapter, so there we go :3 anyways, It's time to go back. Back. TO THE STORY! Oh yeah...and sorry this one took SOOOOOOOO long..._**

* * *

Chapter 15

"Hello." Tea said, smiling at the new girl a little. She looked like she was very nice.

"So, you're the professor's assistant?" Tristan asked, curious as well as suspicious. Why had no one told them about her before? Not that it was the law that they had to know everything about what went on in the lives of their friends, but still, it would be nice if someone had kept them in the loop for this one. New people weren't _always _trustworthy.

"Well, me and his granddaughter." She said, looking over the group for a moment before looking over to the professor, who was smiling at everyone.

"His granddaughter?" Duke asked, confused as he had never met her. But suddenly, a wave of distress came over the entire group. Except himself, Abby, and Bakura. They knew her already, of course. And she wasn't exactly a picnic...

"You don't mean..." Joey mumbled, hoping he had another secret granddaughter they didn't know about..

"YUGI!"

Suddenly, a little girl with blonde pigtails, came running up to them.

"Who's that?" Abby asked, looking to Joey for the answer to that question.

"Rebecca..." He mumbled again, hoping to everything that she would go away. She was _sooooooo _annoying...

"O-Oh! Hey, Rebecca..." Yugi said, as Yami _conveniently _switched over so he could avoid her, but sadly that meant screwing over Yugi. Which he would apologize for..._later._

"Oh." Nori said, looking at them, honestly surprised. "Have you guys met before?"

"I suppose you could say that." Tea said, instantly glaring at the girl as she noticed Rebecca was practically squeezing the life out of Yugi she was hugging him so much...

"Rebecca, stop." The professor said, noticing how uncomfortable Yugi looked.

"Sorry..." Rebecca said, letting go of Yugi, restoring his ability to breathe.

"So, Arthur." Grandpa began, trying to get back on track. "You didn't answer the Pharaoh's question."

"Oh, that's right!" The professor gasped, realizing that grandpa was right. And, as if on cue, Yami reappeared. Very much wanting to hear what exactly the exhibit was about. Ancient Egypt, sure. But he wanted _specifics. _"Well, it's about the Millennium Items. In a way."

"WHAT!?"

* * *

"We've arrived, Mr. Kaiba." the man said, as he parked the limo in front of an office building. They hadn't been driving for very long to be honest, but traffic didn't help the time it took for them to get there, when they should've already been there.

"Then let's just get this over with." Seto said flatly, not looking forward to this at all considering he wasn't even going originally. He'd rather be dealing with whoever sent that file. But he had a pretty good idea who it might be. But even so, it was impossible as that woman was dead. But more than that, he didn't really want to drag Mokuba to a business meeting..not that he would cause trouble, but because it wasn't very professional to bring a child to a meeting. But he decided that the people here would just have to deal with it. He felt better having Mokuba by his side a all times, so he could keep a close eye on him.

"Of course, sir." The man said, getting out of the limo and opening the door for the two brothers, of course knowing of their very high status.

"Big brother, what's this meeting even about?" Mokuba asked, keeping up with his brother's natural speed. Of course, Mokuba was tiny so his legs were much shorter.

"What else?" Seto asked, the same emotionless tone he always had covering his words. He went on to explain using some very big words company statistics and results on testing and development of new products and a bunch of stuff like that. Which of course, was completely lost on the little boy, as his vocabulary wasn't as vast as the older brother's. True, he was quite an intelligent child, (Kaiba had made sure of that) but there were still very many things he didn't know or understand. A lot of big words would be one of those things. After all, he was only ten years old. It was natural for him not to know.

"I think you're confusing him, Mr. Kaiba.." The man said, noticing the confused expression on the boy's face.

"Am I?" Seto asked, looking down at Mokuba, who indeed looked very confused.

"Sorry..." Mokuba said, ashamed of the fact that he still couldn't understand his brother sometimes.. "I just don't know a lot of big words yet, big brother..."

"I see." Seto said, putting a hand on his little brother's shoulder as they continued on their way to the meeting. "I'll be teaching you more, then."

"I'm sorry..." Mokuba said, sighing a bit. Honestly, he thought Seto would be mad at him...he'd already been taught a lot of big words and things like that, but there were still so many he didn't quite understand yet...and his brother had just used a _lot _of them.

They kept walking for another minute or two before they reached what appeared to be the board room. Obviously, since there were a bunch of executive looking people inside and outside of it.

_"I don't trust, any of them." _Seto thought, keeping his arm around his brother's shoulders as he scrutinized the rather large-ish group of people. He'd never trusted corporate suits. And that wasn't going to change anytime soon.

"Well, now that everyone is here, why don't we get started?" The suited man said, leading everyone into the board room. Seto looked around at everyone once more, just to see if any of them looked too suspicious for his taste. And of course, someone did. _"What!?"_ he thought, his eyes widening slightly._ "H-How is she here!?" _There she was, plain as day. A woman, about 20 years older than him at the most. She was unmistakable, as her velvet red hair was brighter than even the surplus of blondes in the room.

"What's wrong, big brother...?" Mokuba asked, looking up at Seto, who sill had his eyes widened, which of course he had noticed.

"I-It's nothing." Seto said, shaking his head as he heard his brother's question, slightly tightening his hold on the small boy. "You don't need to worry about it, Mokuba."

"Uhh...okay...?" Mokuba said quietly, honestly confused again. Clearly if something was bothering Seto it had to be important. Right? Why _shouldn't _he worry about it? If even just a little.

They all entered the room and sat down at the rather large table in the center of the room. Mokuba felt really out of place in there. He was just a kid, and these were a bunch of old people. Except for Seto and the red-headed girl.

_"So...I just sit here and listen to bunch of business mumbo jumbo?" _He thought to himself as the meeting began. _"How boring..." _He glanced around the room once more, as he really didn't have anything else to do until they could leave. He looked at all the people in the room, deciding to entertain himself by counting the massive amount of blonde people in the room. He counted about 27. There were 30 people in all, counting himself, Seto, and the red-headed woman. They were the only ones in the room who's hair wasn't blonde or turning gray. But as he looked around one more time to confirm his count, he noticed the red-headed woman looking at him. But also smiling. It was actually really creepy. He decided not to be rude, and smiled back at her quickly before turning back to Seto, tugging on his shirt a little. He was seriously uncomfortable in here now.

"Not now, Mokuba." Seto said quietly, waving him off as he continued to listen. Clearly he hadn't noticed anything totally out of the ordinary yet, so he really didn't care too much. Which of course, wasn't helping the small child any with feeling less uncomfortable. He looked around the room once more, again taking notice of the red-haired woman. Still looking at him, but now only through the corner of her eye. She was starting to seriously freak him out now...


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

"The Millennium Items!?" Joey asked, honestly not expecting that even though he should've. Honestly what _wasn't _about the Millennium Items lately? Even if it wasn't a direct connection, everything seemed to lead back to the Millennium Items and the Shadow games in one way or another.

"Yes, in a way." The professor said, leading them all to the exhibit. "I'm sure it may be of some use to you."

"I hope so.." Yami said, sighing quietly to himself, silently praying for any information about his identity or his past. It had been so long since he could remember anything at all about who he was. It would be nice to have some knowledge of himself again.

"We worked really hard to find this stuff, so you'd better appreciate it!" Rebecca said as they approached the exhibit. It wasn't much different from any other they had seen before, and definitely not as cool as the tablets Ishizu had shown Yami and Tea, but still they had high hopes. Especially Yami, who was more anxious than anyone to learn what the professor had found.

"Oh, we do, Rebecca. Don't worry." Tea said, really hoping that whatever they found could help. Just like the rest of them did. Nothing would suck more for them than coming all this way for nothing. But they doubted that would end up being the case. It seemed very unlikely that such an outcome would arise, but the option was still a possibility, however unfavorable it may be, they never assumed everything would turn out perfectly, as they knew they shouldn't.

"Good. Because we really wanted to help you guys, you know!" Rebecca said, pouting a little at the thought of them being ungreatful for their attempt at help. She too hoped they would be able to help them, but she also knew that most likely, either they already knew this information they had gathered, or it was in some way completely useless to them. Both unfavorable outcomes in every sense of the thought.

"Ahh. Here we are." The professor said as they reached the exhibit. It wasn't exactly glamorous, but it was alright. Just as anyone would expect an ancient Egypt exhibit would be like. A little bland, but kinda cool anyway. "I'm sorry it's not more grandiose, but you know how it is." he chuckled quietly to himself, earning a smile from the group.

"No, no. It's just fine." Yami said, trying to be polite, though he did like it. "Thank you."

"So what did you find?" Abby asked, looking around at her surroundings. "I mean like, specifically."

"Well, young lady. We discovered that our Pharaoh friend here, once saved the entire world from a great darkness." The professor began to explain. "And by doing so, he ended the age of the shadow games in ancient Egypt, after sealing his spirit away inside the Millennium Puzzle. And now he's returned to save the world once again."

Everyone just fell silent. They couldn't believe this. They interrupted all of their lives, flown _ALL _the way here and suffered the Florida heat and a reunion with Rebecca...to hear what they already knew. No one dared say anything about it, they didn't want to be rude to the professor, or act like they were ungrateful for his help, even if he really didn't help all that much at all. But eventually someone would have to say something or it would just be too awkward. So they all silently agreed to just play along like they didn't know that already.

"And you're sure about that?" Yami asked, acting as best as he could like this was brand new information.

"Oh yes, I am completely positive that my findings are correct, Pharaoh." The professor said, very proud of what they had discovered, completely unaware of just how useless to them it was. "I was s thorough as possible in my research."

"I thank you, Professor Hawkins." Yami said, nodding to him, Rebecca and Nori as they all looked very proud of themselves.

"I keep telling you!" Rebecca said with a big smile on her face. "_My _grandfather is the greatest ever!"

"Now, now, Rebecca. I would hardly said that I was the _greatest_." The professor said, chuckling to himself, earning a smile from the others. "Now, do you have any questions, Pharaoh?"

"No, I've learned more than enough for now." He lied, honestly feeling bad for leading the professor on like this...but he didn't want _him_ to feel bad either.

"I'm glad I could help." The professor said, not knowing how useless his information actually was to them. He was just happy to be of help to his young friends. to avoid any awkwardness they all just kinda nodded along. Maybe one day they'd tell him. But that day was not today.

the group of teens -and grandpa- all congregated outside to head over to the professor's beach house that he apparently had that he didn't tell them about. He was already going to be here so he told grandpa on the way that they could all stay with him and Rebecca there, since there was enough room for all of them somehow.

"What do we do now...?" Téa asked, worried that the Pharaoh would want to go home now, since this had been a real bust so far..

"We'll stay here like we planned." Yami said, contradicting Téa's thoughts, which she was actually very happy about. "I don't want to intrude on the fun just because I didn't get the information I hoped for."

"That was the whole point of the trip, man." Tristan said, putting a hand on Yami's shoulder. "Honestly it's _us _who are intruding if you look at it that way."

Tristan had a point. They made this trip because the Professor had invited them, sure. But also because they thought they could learn something about the Pharaoh's past, which didn't exactly happen the way they planned...but they couldn't let that stop them from having fun, right?

"I wouldn't say that." Yami said, smiling a bit at his caring friend. "But still, I think we should stay. It would be rude if we just left now."

"He does have a point." Duke said. Agreeing mostly because he liked it down here, and didn't want to go back yet. But also because he was a nice guy, and it would indeed be rude to simply get up and leave without telling anyone, and they were also invited down here, so they really should stay.

"Alright, then let's go kids." Grandpa said, smiling as they all proceeded to make their way to the beach house. Hopefully things would start to look up from now on..

* * *

Once the meeting let out, Seto hurried Mokuba out of the room, hoping to keep him from getting trampled by the large group of people exiting at once for more socializing, which he did not intend on partaking in. People bothered him in more ways than one. _Especially _that woman...he could see that something was familiar about her, he had a feeling she was who he thought she was...but...

"Big brother.."

Seto looked down to see Mokuba looking up at him, with an expression on his face that screamed '_I need to tell you something..' . _Seto nodded slightly, taking his brother's tiny hand and leading him around the corner before anyone could notice. Not that they were far out of earshot of the group, but the empty hallway was slightly more private.

"What's wrong?" Seto asked. He had a feeling whatever Mokuba had to say was very important. He quickly thought back to the meeting. Mokuba had tried to get his attention before, but he hadn't payed him any mind. He mentally kicked himself in the pants for ignoring him. Clearly this was something he noticed or realized in there that bothered him enough to try to take his attention away from work.

"That lady.." Mokuba said quietly, hoping she wasn't listening or something. There was something very wrong about her...and she didn't stop looking at him the entire meeting..it was really freaky..

"What about her?" Set asked, worried now about what Mokuba was going to say.

Mokuba explained the strange experience in as much detail as he could, knowing Seto would want every single detail available to him. Not that there were very many of those. But even so, any information was important. Seto listened very intently, not wanting to miss a thing. This proved one thing at least. She knew who they were, but then again most everyone here did. But that also proved that she was worth keeping an eye on.

"Hello, boys."

Mokuba whimpered slightly, clinging to Seto's pant leg as Seto turned quickly at the farmilar voice of the elder red-headed woman as she approached. He put an arm around his brother's shoulders to reassure him of his safety and gave the woman a stark glare. She was even more confirmed now seeing her up close. Older she may be, but her all the same.

Erika Nadishiko.

"Good afternoon." Seto said, politely as she was his elder, but coldly all the same. No was he trusted her.

"It's good seeing you, I'm sure you have more important matters to attend to elsewhere." She said, folding her hands in front off her, a somewhat blank yet calm expression on her face. She glanced down and noticed the child clinging to his brother, and offered a little smile. "Hello there, little one."

Mokuba whimpered quietly and clinged tighter to Seto as he tighted his arm around the little boy's shoulders. Normally he wasn't scared like this so easily...but there was an aura about her...it was the most terrifying thing he ever felt..it was dark..and cold...other worldly..clearly, she didn't belong here.

"I bet it's nice getting to stay with your big brother like this, even at work." She smiled bigger, tilting her head to the side a bit, her hair swaying in the breeze from the fan around the corner. "He must care a lot about you."

"That's enough, Ms. Nadishiko." Seto said, glaring deeper as he nuddged Mokuba further behind him, keeping hin as close to him yet as far away from her as possible.

"I see." she said, her smiling quickly fading into a frown. "Very well then, I'll be going." she turned away, taking a pause before slowly walking down the hallway. "And, _Mr. Kaiba._" She said, pausing once more, turning sightly back to them, stroking her hair in her hands, taking a quick glace at the small child, still mostly hidden behind the older brother, smiling once more. "I suggest you keep a close eye on your _precious _belongings."

He glared even deeper than before as she chuckled to herself before walking away for the final time. There was no doubt about it now...whatever was going on..

It was she, who was the cause.


End file.
